Indonesia’s remote Mount Ruang volcano erupted several times on Tuesday, authorities said, issuing the highest level of alert and ordering thousands of people to evacuate due to the threat of a tsunami from debris sliding into the sea.
The country’s volcanology agency had warned the threat from the volcano was not over after it erupted more than half a dozen times this month, sparking the evacuation of more than 6 000 people.
Ruang, in Indonesia’s North Sulawesi province, erupted at around 1.15am local time on Tuesday (5.15pm GMT Monday) and then twice more that morning, the volcanology agency said in a statement.
The volcano sent a tower of ash more than 5km (3.1 miles) into the sky, it added, as well as a fiery column of lava.
The national disaster agency, BNPB, estimated that 11 000 to 12 000 people had to be relocated from near Ruang’s crater, spokesperson Abdul Muhari told a media conference.
“Currently, local disaster mitigation agency … military and police are evacuating residents,” he said.
Images released by the agency showed a molten red column bursting into the sky, a large ash cloud spilling from the crater and burning embers near houses.
The disaster agency imposed a 7km exclusion zone around Ruang after volcanology officials warned locals of “the potential for ejections of incandescent rocks, hot clouds and tsunamis due to eruption material entering the sea”.
