Indonesia's Sinabung volcano erupts again

Mount Sinabung in Indonesia's North Sumatra province erupted on July 28, spewing a massive column of smoke and ash into the sky.

Mount Sinabung in North Sumatra, Indonesia, spews ash into the sky

The eruption of the 2,460-metre volcano reached 4,500m and lasted about 12 minutes, a local geological agency said.

An image shared by the agency showed a column of thick, dark smoke coming from the crater, AFP reported.

Clouds of smoke and ash travelled 1,000m away from the peak, the agency added.

No evacuation orders were issued because the debris did not reach the nearest villages and there was no reported disruption to flights in the area.

But authorities have instructed people to avoid a 5km zone around the crater that has been left unoccupied for years as volcanic activity increased.

Sinabung was dormant for centuries before roaring back to life in 2010 when an eruption killed two people.

It erupted again in 2013 and has remained highly active since. An eruption in 2014 killed at least 16 people, while seven died in a 2016 blast.

Indonesia - an archipelago of more than 17,000 islands - has nearly 130 active volcanoes. It sits on the "Ring of Fire", a belt of tectonic plate boundaries circling the Pacific Ocean where frequent seismic activity occurs./.

VNA