TOMOHON, Indonesia: A volcano in central Indonesia spit lava and smoke high into the air on Friday, sending thousands of panicked residents fleeing down its fiery slopes. There were no immediate reports of casualties.
Mount Lokon, located in northern Sulawesi province, unleashed its first powerful eruption at 10:46 pm on Thursday, said Brian Rulrone, a disaster management agency official.
That blast was followed by a second just after midnight and a third at 1:10 am on Friday.
Glowing lava cascaded from the mouth of the crater, setting trees along the western slope on fire, said Ferry Rusmawan, an official at the nearest monitoring post, adding that activity remained high and another eruption appeared imminent.
Darwis Sitinjak, another disaster official, told El Shinta radio from the scene that soldiers and police helped rescuers evacuate more than 3,000 people who live along the mountain's fertile slopes.
They joined 2,000 others who fled on Wednesday after being warned to stay far from the 5,741-foot (1,750-meter) volcano, which has been on high alert for nearly a week, with small eruptions daily.
Indonesia, a vast archipelago of 235 million people, is prone to earthquakes and volcanoes because it sits along the Pacific "Ring of Fire," a horseshoe-shaped string of faults that lines the Pacific Ocean.
Mount Lokon is one of the country's 129 active volcanoes.
Its last major eruption in 1991 killed a Swiss hiker and forced thousands of people to flee their homes.
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