MEDAN, Indonesia (AP) – The roar of Mount Sinabung in Indonesia erupted on Monday, sending a volcanic column up to 5,000 meters (16,400 feet) into the sky and depositing ash in the villages.
The sand and falling ashes have accumulated up to five centimeters (2 inches) in villages already deserted on the slopes of the volcano, said Armen Putra, an official at Sinabung Tracking Station on Sumatra Island.
Further away, in Berastagi, a tourist destination in the city in the province of Sumatra Norte, about 20 kilometers (12.4 miles) from the crater, motorists lit the headlights in the sunlight to see through the ashes.
Videos and images on social media showed others dressed in masks outside.
No one was killed or injured in the eruption, the Indonesian Center for Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation said.
Villagers are asked to stay within five kilometers (3.1 miles) of the crater’s mouth and be aware of the danger of lava, the firm said. Air transport has so far not been affected by the ash, the Transport Ministry said.
Another 30,000 people have been forced to leave their homes around Sinabung in recent years.
The volcano, one of two that have recently erupted in Indonesia, was dormant for 4 centuries before exploding in 2010, killing two people; another eruption in 2014 killed 16 people, while seven died in a 2016 eruption.
Sinabung is one of more than 120 active volcanoes in Indonesia, undergoing seismic turmoil due to its location in the Pacific Circle of Fire, an arc of volcanoes and faults surrounding the Pacific Basin.