TOKYO: A volcano on the remote southern Japanese island of Kuchinoerabujima erupted suddenly on Friday, blasting plumes of black smoke high into the sky, prompting authorities to order the evacuation of the island’s residents and forcing airlines to divert some flights.
A pyroclastic flow of super-heated gas and rock flowed down the side of the peak and reached the ocean after the “explosive” eruption, NHK said.
“There was a huge bang and black smoke rose up immediately,” Nobuaki Hayashi, an island official, told NHK television.
There were no immediate reports of injuries to the roughly 140 residents, whose only access to the outside world is by boat.
A ferry was headed for the island, about 160 km south of Japan’s southernmost island Kyushu, to evacuate residents and the national government had set up a disaster management office.
Japan’s All Nippon Airways said it would divert some flights to Okinawa and Southeast Asia as a precaution, but didn’t plan to cancel any plants. Japan Airlines (JAL) said it did not have any plans to change any of its flights.
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