Volcano erupts in Indonesia

A volcano erupted in central Indonesia today, shooting plumes of white smoke and sand 1,500 metres into the air, an official said.

There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage.

Almost all residents were evacuated from Mount Soputan, located on Sulawesi island, ahead of the blast, said Sandy Manengke, a local monitoring official.

The heat could be felt as far as 20 kilometres away, he said, and some residents living in villages near the base of the 1,780-metre-high mountain wore facemasks to protect themselves from the smoke and ash.

Abandoned homes along the volcano’s fertile slopes were covered in soot, Manengke said.

Indonesia has more active volcanoes than any other nation because of its location on the Pacific ’Ring of Fire’ – a series of fault lines stretching from the Western Hemisphere through Japan and Southeast Asia.

Mount Soputan, 2,160 kilometres northeast of the capital, Jakarta, is one of its most active.

It rarely spews lava, however, instead spitting out smoke, ash and sand, Manengke said.