A volcano in Indonesia has erupted spewing ash and smoke as high as 2.5 miles into the sky and forcing more than 2,700 people fleeing from their homes.
The Mount Ile Lewotolok volcano in the East Nusa Tenggara province of Lembata in the Lesser Sunda Islands has forced 2,780 people to flee from 26 villages, officials have said.
Indonesia's Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation Centre said on its website that the area near the volcano is likely to be inundated with 'hot clouds, lava stream, lava avalanche, and poisonous gas'.
Indonesia's Lewotolo volcano has erupted spewing ash and smoke as high as four kilometres. More than 2,700 residents have been forced to seek refuge. Indonesia has nearly 130 active volcanoes, more than any other country. The Lewotolo last erupted 8years ago. - Contributed video. pic.twitter.com/4fleAQw3R9
— Jamaica Gleaner (@JamaicaGleaner) November 29, 2020
Officials said no casualties have been reported.
Pak Kasbani, head of Indonesia's Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation Centre, said the status of the volcano raised to the second-highest level on Indonesia's four-tier alert system due to 'increasing threats'.
National Disaster Mitigation Agency spokesman Raditya Jati said in a statement that the eruption from the Mount Ile Lewotolok volcano, about 1616 miles east of Indonesia's capital of Jakarta, had caused panic among those living nearby.
East Nusa Tenggara's Wunopitu airport was temporarily closed as flights were advised to avoid the area as volcanic ask rained down.
A 1.2 miles no-go zone around the crater was put in place which was expanded to 2.5 miles.
'People are advised to not carry out any activities within a four-kilometre radius from the crater,' Indonesia's geological agency said.
Mr Jati said around 2,780 people from 26 villages had sought refuge, although no casualties have so far been reported.
Muhammad Ilham, a 17-year-old who witnessed the eruption, said that residents nearby were 'panicked and they're still looking for refuge and in need of money right now'.
Indonesia has nearly 130 active volcanoes, more than any other country, due to its position on the 'Ring of Fire', a belt of tectonic plate boundaries circling the Pacific Ocean where frequent seismic activity occurs.
While many show high levels of activity it can be weeks or even months before an eruption.
There are only three other volcanoes with this level which include the Merapi volcano on the island of Java and Sinabung on Sumatra, which erupted this month.
In late 2018, a volcano in the strait between Java and Sumatra islands erupted, causing an underwater landslide that unleashed a tsunami which killed more than 400 people.
This article has been adapted from its original source.
