MOUNT SINABUNG, Indonesia (AP) – A volcano on the island of Sumatra, Indonesia, unleashed an avalanche of scorching gas clouds over its slopes during an eruption on Thursday. No victims were reported.
Mount Sinabung, in North Sumatra province, was sending smoke and ash up to 1,000 meters (3,280 feet) into the air and clouds of hot ash were blowing 3 kilometers (1.8 miles) to the southeast, the Center for Volcanology and Mitigation of Geological Risks in Indonesia.
There were no casualties in the eruption, said Armen Putra, an official at the Sinabung monitoring post. He said residents were advised to stay 5 kilometers from the mouth of the crater and should be aware of the danger of lava.
An alert was maintained at the second highest level, while authorities closely monitor the volcano after sensors have detected increasing activity in recent weeks.
The 2,600 meter (8,530 ft) mountain has been noisy since last year. It sent volcanic materials over 5,000 meters (16,400 feet) into the sky and deposited ash in nearby villages when it erupted earlier this month.
Some 30,000 people have been forced to leave their homes on the outskirts of Sinabung in recent years.
Sinabung was asleep for four centuries before it erupted in 2010, killing two people. Another eruption in 2014 killed 17 people, while seven died in a 2016 eruption.
The volcano, one of the two currently erupting in Indonesia, has been sporadically coming back to life ever since.
Sinabung is among the more than 120 active volcanoes in Indonesia, which is subject to seismic turbulence due to its location in the Pacific “Ring of Fire”, an arc of volcanoes and geological faults that surround the Pacific Basin.