Sumatra’s most active volcano erupts, sending ash 3 kilometers high

A plume visible for miles around. The most active volcano on the island of Sumatra, in western Indonesia, erupted on Sunday December 3. A column of ash was projected three kilometers high into the sky, according to the Indonesian Center for Vulcanology and Geological Hazards.

The eruption, which began at 2:54 p.m. local time (8:54 a.m. Paris time), is still ongoing. “Neither people who live around the volcano nor tourists are allowed to enter a three-kilometer radius around the crater”, added the center. A manager at the Mount Marapi monitoring station advises residents of surrounding towns who have to go out to wear “hats, glasses and masks”.

A total of 70 people were recorded entering the area on Saturday and Sunday morning, and 42 of them remained unlocated by the end of the day. But some hikers do not report their entry or exit from the area, and the number of people still there is therefore uncertain.

Marapi, 2,891 meters high and whose name means “the mountain of fire”, is currently at the third alert level on a scale of four. Indonesia is located on the Pacific Ring of Fire, where the meeting of continental plates causes significant volcanic and seismic activity. The country has nearly 130 active volcanoes.