Mount Ruang volcano erupts in Sitaro, North Sulawesi, on April 19, 2024.
| Photo Credit: AFP

A remote volcano in Indonesia’s outermost region erupted again on April 19, local authorities and an AFP journalist said, after the crater threw up columns of smoke and lava multiple times this week and forced thousands to evacuate.

“The volcano erupts again,” said the AFP journalist on the island of Tagulandang which neighbours Mount Ruang.

The country’s volcanology agency later confirmed the eruption sent a plume of smoke 400 metres (1,312 feet) above the peak.

“There was an eruption of Mt Ruang, North Sulawesi” at 1706 local time, 0906 GMT, it said.

“The ash column was observed to be grey in colour… and leaning towards the south.”

While officials said Ruang had started to calm Friday, authorities maintained the highest alert level on a four-tiered system, which indicates high volcanic activity.

They also told residents to remain more than six kilometres (four miles) from the crater.

Indonesia, a vast archipelago nation, experiences frequent seismic and volcanic activity due to its position on the Pacific “Ring of Fire”.

This handout photograph taken and released by the Centre for Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation on April 17, 2024, shows Mount Ruang spewing hot lava and smoke as seen from Sitaro, North Sulawesi.
| Photo Credit: AFP

Indonesia shut a provincial airport and evacuated hundreds of people from the vicinity of the Ruang volcano after it belched explosive plumes of lava, rocks and ash for days, officials said on April 18, declaring the highest alert on the situation.

Wednesday’s dramatic eruption of the volcano on a remote island in the Province of North Sulawesi threw a fiery-red column of lava, incandescent rock and ash as much as 3 km (two miles) into the sky.

Purple flashes of lightning rent the sky above the erupting volcano, videos on social media showed.

“We’re running, guys,” said one witness who filmed the eruption while scrambling to evacuate. “We are escaping because the ash is coming close.”

More than 800 people were evacuated from the area, with authorities widening the evacuation zone further after the volcanology agency raised the alert status.

“The potential for further eruption is still high, so we need to remain alert,” agency official Heruningtyas Desi Purnamasari told reporters on April 18, blaming a rapid escalation in volcanic activity.

The agency had also received reports that falling rocks and ash damaged homes and forced a nearby hospital to evacuate, the official said.

Transport authorities shut the airport in the provincial capital of Manado to protect against the showers of ash from the eruption.

Budget airline Air Asia cancelled flights with nine airports in East Malaysia and Brunei after aviation authorities warned of a safety threat.

Officials have cordoned off an area of six kilometres (4 miles) around the volcano and are evacuating more residents, some from the neighbouring island of Tagulandang, said Abdul Muhari, spokesperson of the disaster mitigation agency.

About 1,500 of those in high-risk areas needed to be immediately evacuated, he added, while almost 12,000 more stand to be affected.

Officials have also flagged the risk of a tsunami if parts of the mountain collapse into the ocean below. About 400 people were killed in a tsunami unleashed by a previous eruption of the volcano in 1871.