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Ash strands 30,000 in Australia, NZ

Tens of thousands of passengers in Australia and New Zealand were stranded when airlines suspended flights as an ash cloud from an erupting volcano in southern Chile spread, threatening to damage engines. This handout picture released by the Chilean Air Force shows the cloud of ash billowing from Puyehue.

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Spectacular view

The plume of ash could disrupt travel for the next several days, according to Airservices Australia. It said the main ash cloud had reached southern Tasmania and New Zealand's South Island but it was expected to pass to the south of the Australian mainland. Lightning is seen amid a cloud of ash billowing from Puyehue volcano in the picture.

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A 10 km high column of gas

Puyehue volcano erupted for the first time in half a century on June 4, 2011, prompting large-scale evacuations as it sent a cloud of ash that reached Argentina. The National Service of Geology and Mining said the explosion that sparked the eruption also produced a column of gas 10 kilometers (six miles) high, hours after warning of strong seismic activity in the area.

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Ash choke waterways

View of the Gol Gol river with its surface covered by volcanic ashes, near the Puyehue volcano. Dozens of South American flights had to be scrapped because of the huge cloud of volcanic ash spewing from a Chilean volcano, as fears grew of possible landslides near the eruption. So far 4,000 people have been evacuated from 22 rural Chilean communities surrounding the Puyehue volcano, which rumbled to life after showing no activity since 1960, when it erupted following a magnitude 9.5 earthquake.

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Volcano ash carpets lake

Volcanic ash floats at Nahuel Huapi lake in the outskirts of San Carlos de Bariloche, southern Argentina. Scientists say the eruption at Chile's Cordon Caulle volcano has diminished, although they warn that ash likely will keep spewing out for at least several more days.