Jakarta:

Ibu volcano in Indonesia’s Halmahera Island erupted again, sending volcanic ash as high as 5,000 metre to its peak, the Center for Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation said.

The eruption occurred at 11:36 a.m. local time on Monday for more than two minutes, and the thick ash column leaned towards the southwest and west, said Ibu Volcano Observation Post Officer Ridwan Djalil on Monday as quoted by Xinhua news agency report.

The center raised its hazardous status from level three to four, the highest, on May 16, following a significant increase in the mountain’s recent activity.

Local people are asked to avoid the danger zone within a 4 km radius and 7 km in the northern sector of the crater.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

A 31-year-old Chinese woman died after falling off the edge of a crater while posing for a photo on an Indonesian volcano known for its popular “blue fire” phenomenon. According to the New York Post, the woman, identified as Huang Lihong, was with her husband on a guided tour when the incident took place on Saturday. The couple, in their bid to watch the sunrise, had climbed to the edge of the crater of Ijen – a volcano tourism park in the region – cops said.  

According to the police, the woman plummeted from a height of 75m and died from the impact of her fall. The death has been marked as an accident, per The Post.

The tour guild later told authorities that Ms Lihong kept a safe distance from the edge of the crater after being repeatedly warned of the dangers while posing for snaps. However, she then started walking backwards to inch closer and then accidentally stepped on her long clothing, tripped and fell into the mouth of the volcano. It is not clear if the 31-year-old was wearing a skirt or a dress.   

According to the officials, it took rescuers around 2 hours to retrieve Ms Lihong’s body.

Notably, the Ijen volcano is known for its “blue fire” caused by the blue light emitted from the combustion of sulfuric gases. According to The Independent, in 2018, scores of people were forced to evacuate their homes and at least 30 people were hospitalised after the volcano started to emit toxic gases. Mount Ijen regularly releases small amounts of noxious gases but the site stays open to the public.

Indonesia is home to around 130 active volcanoes. Recently, a remote Indonesian volcano sent a tower of ash spewing into the sky, after nearly half a dozen eruptions forced thousands to evacuate when molten rocks rained down on their villages. Mount Ruang in Indonesia’s outermost region of North Sulawesi started erupting on April 16, stirring a spectacular mix of fiery orange lava, a towering ash column and volcanic lightning. The country’s volcanology agency said the eruption sent a plume of smoke 400 metres (1,312 feet) above the peak.