A volcano in the eastern side of Indonesia on Tuesday spewed a massive ash tower into the sky, prompting authorities to raise an alert, officials said.
Indonesian authorities have raised the volcano’s alert level to the highest to a four-tiered system. The towering ash cloud reached 11 kilometres (6.8 miles) high, according to the country’s volcanology agency.
Mount Lewotobi Laki-Laki, a 1,584-metre-high twin-peaked volcano on the tourist island of Flores, erupted at 5:35 pm local time (0935 GMT), the agency said in its statement.
No reports of damage or casualties have been raised so far.
Images shared by the agency on Tuesday showed an orange ash cloud in the shape of a mushroom engulfing a nearby village.
“The height of the eruption column was observed at approximately 10,000 metres above the summit. The ash column was observed to be grey with thick intensit,” the volcanology agency said as it raised the alert level.
Residents and tourists have been advised to refrain from doing any activity within at least seven kilometres radius of the volcano’s crater, geology agency head Muhammad Wafid said.
But he warned of the possibility of hazardous lahar floods — a type of mud or debris flow of volcanic materials — if heavy rain occurs, particularly for communities near to rivers.
He also urged residents to wear face masks to protect themselves from volcanic ash.
In November, Mount Lewotobi Laki-Laki erupted multiple times killing nine people and forcing thousands to evacuate, as well as the cancellation of scores of international flights to Bali.
No flight disruptions till now
It is not immediately clear if there have been flight disruptions. When Lewotobi Laki-laki erupted in March, airlines were forced to cancel and delay flights into Bali, including Australia’s Jetstar and Qantas Airways.
There were no immediate reports of cancelled flights after Tuesday’s eruption.
Laki-Laki, which means man in Indonesian, is twinned with the calmer but taller 1,703-metre (5,587-foot) volcano named Perempuan, after the Indonesian word for woman.
Indonesia, a vast archipelago nation, experiences frequent seismic and volcanic activity due to its position on the Pacific “Ring of Fire”.
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