MEDAN, Indonesia – Indonesia’s rumbling Mount Sinabung erupted yesterday, sending a column of volcanic materials as high as 5,000 meters (16,400 feet) into the sky and depositing ash on villages.
Falling grit and ash accumulated up to 5 centimeters (2 inches) in already abandoned villages on the volcano’s slopes, said Armen Putra, an official at the Sinabung monitoring post on Sumatra Island.
Farther afield in Berastagi, a tourist destination city in North Sumatra province, about 20 kilometers (12.4 miles) from the crater, motorists switched on headlights in daylight to see through the ash.
There were no fatalities or injuries from the eruption, Indonesia’s Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation Center said.
The volcano, one of two currently erupting in Indonesia, was dormant for four centuries before exploding in 2010, killing two people. Another eruption in 2014 killed 16 people, while seven died in a 2016 eruption. (AP)
