First published at 00:23 UTC on May 13th, 2024.
A volcano in eastern Indonesia erupted on Wednesday and spewed an ash tower almost a mile into the sky, prompting officials to raise an alert level to the second-highest and warn people to keep away.
Mount Ibu, located on the island of Halmahera in…
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A volcano in eastern Indonesia erupted on Wednesday and spewed an ash tower almost a mile into the sky, prompting officials to raise an alert level to the second-highest and warn people to keep away.
Mount Ibu, located on the island of Halmahera in North Maluku province, erupted at 11:11 am local time (0211 GMT) and sent a thick column of dark smoke and ash above the peak.
The volcano spewed an ash tower 1.5 kilometres (0.93 miles) above the peak, Indonesia's volcanology agency (PVMBG) said.
"Based on the results of visual and instrumental monitoring... Mount Ibu's activity level has been raised from level two to level three" of a four-tiered system, said PVMBG chief Hendra Gunawan in a statement Wednesday.
Authorities formed an exclusion zone between three and five kilometres around the volcano's crater.
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