Ron Knight Warns Manus Island From Titan Ridge Volcano Papua New Guinea Pumice Raft
titan ridge volcano papua new guinea has sent huge rafts of pumice into the south coast of Manus Island, where tides and currents are pushing the floating rock toward beaches, wharves and landing ramps. Ron Knight, the former Manus MP and crocodile hunter, said one raft is up to 3 kilometres wide and 5 kilometres long, with a depth of around 5 metres.
Knight said the pumice is already cutting off beach access and threatening marine life people in Manus rely on. Papua New Guinea authorities have warned of falling pumice, ash, unpredictable swells and turbulent currents as the debris continues moving through the South Pacific island's coastal waters.
Manus Island beaches
Knight said, "This is a disaster. We were expecting tsunamis, and in fact, they turned around and got us another way" as the pumice line reached the island. He said, "People cannot get their boats out from the beaches. It's impossible to put a motor down and run it. You can't pull a boat through it."
The rafts began building after the undersea volcano, around 125 kilometres southeast of Manus, started emitting a large steam plume in early May. Built-up lava produced masses of pumice that rose to the surface, and the floating rock has since been driven toward south coastal parts of Manus by tides and currents.
Loniu passage and Lorengau
Knight said, "It's covering all the reefs, all the fish are dying, all the corals are dying, all the sea grass is dying." He also said a large sheet of pumice could be seen converging in Loniu passage.
He warned, "The way it's going, my fear is we have these huge rafts coming in through the heads here into Lorengau town, and they stuff up the wharves and our landing ramps, which will make it impossible for us to get food and get service by vessels coming in." That warning matters most for coastal communities that depend on boats for supplies and movement, not just for traffic through open water.
Bismarck Sea alert
PNG scientists monitoring the volcano say there is little way of knowing whether it could develop into a major explosion. The volcano's activity has been described as rare and unusual, and coastal communities around Papua New Guinea's Bismarck Sea have been advised to stay on heightened alert.
Knight ended with a direct appeal: "Definitely the government has got to do something about it. We have to stop this. We have to sort it out, and we have to do it now, not later." For Manus Island residents, the practical concern is immediate: the pumice is already at the coast, and the wharves and landing ramps in Lorengau are now part of the same problem.
