An Indonesian volcano called Mount Sinabung erupted over a dozen times Tuesday morning, spewing volcanic ash 16,400 feet into the air, CBS reported.
Sinabung was dormant for thousands of years when the volcano awakened in 2010, 2014 and 2016, killing a total of 26 people. No casualties were reported by Indonesia’s Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation Centre following the most recent explosion; however, villagers were urged to keep back at least 10,000 feet from the volcano, as reported by Reuters. (RELATED: Stromboli Explosion: Volcano In Italy Abruptly Erupts, Shoots Out ‘Lava Bombs’)
“The residents are scared, many are staying indoors to avoid the thick volcanic ash,” Roy Bangun told the Agence France-Presse (AFP).
ERUPTION: Indonesia’s Mount Sinabung spews hot ash 3 miles into the sky in its first big eruption since last summer. https://t.co/oU7Z76Yojz pic.twitter.com/vOkUYWDIAC
— ABC News (@ABC) March 2, 2021
An Indonesian volcano erupted on Tuesday morning spewing a spectacular column of ash thousands of metres (feet) into a powder blue sky. | @AFP pic.twitter.com/B3DboUaHgS
— The Philippine Star (@PhilippineStar) March 2, 2021
A local monitoring officer, Muhammad Nurul Asrori, told AFP the volcanic ash was the largest he had seen since 2010 and that he feared it would get larger.
“The large lava dome at any time could burst, causing a bigger avalanche of hot clouds,” the monitoring officer said.
Nearly 30,000 people have been forced to leave their homes near the Sumatra area in recent years. The volcano is one of nearly 12o active volcanos in Indonesia, ABC reported. Most recently in November of 2020, a volcano in Indonesia’s East Nusa Tenggara province erupted and caused more than 2,700 residents to evacuate.