Indonesia's Sinabung volcano erupts, flight alert issued

Jakarta: Indonesian authorities on Saturday issued a flight alert following the eruption of the Sinabung volcano in North Sumatra province.

The National Volcanology Agency said that the 2,475-meter high volcano located in Karo district spewed a 2-km high column of volcanic ash, reports Xinhua news agency.

Planes have been prohibited to fly in the airspace above the hot cloud areas, as a volcano observation notice for aviation with the orange level was in effect.

The potential of the further eruption remains along with the release of hot clouds.

Heavy rains of volcanic ash are threatening the areas located in the slope of the volcano, and the volcanic materials may be spread further by the wind to regions located out of the slope.

No-go zones have been declared in the radius of three km from the crater, and four km for the areas situated from the east to the north of the crater, as well as five km for the areas located from the south to the east of the crater.

Sixteen people were killed and thousands of others were forced to flee home when Mount Sinabung erupted in 2014.

Sinabung is one of the 129 active volcanoes in Indonesia, a vast-archipelagic nation home to over 17,500 islands.