Mount Mayon spews 10-km column of ash; alert level raised to 4

A huge column of ash shoots up to the sky during the eruption of Mayon volcano Monday, Jan. 22, 2018 as seen from Legazpi City, Albay province, around 340 kilometers (200 miles) southeast of Manila. The Philippines’ most active volcano erupted Monday prompting the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology to raise the alert level to 4 from last week’s alert level 3. (Photo by EARL RECAMUNDA / AP)

Published: 1:25 p.m., Jan. 22, 2018 | Updated: 3:53 p.m., Jan. 22, 2018

LEGAZPI CITY — Mount Mayon, the Philippines’ active volcano, exploded thunderously Monday, sending a huge gray column of lava fragments, ash, and steam 10 kilometers into the sky and prompting authorities to warn that a violent eruption may be imminent.

The noontime explosion sent superheated lava, molten rocks and steam cascading down Mount Mayon’s slopes and shrouded nearby villages in darkness, said Renato Solidum, chief of the Philippine Institute of Seismology and Volcanology (Phivolcs), and other officials.

In a bulletin issued at 1 p.m., Phivolcs raised the alert level to 4 on a scale of 5, which means an explosive eruption is possible within hours or days.

A danger zone around Mayon was expanded to 8 kilometers (5 miles) from the crater.

“If the eruption is vertical, it’s possible pyroclastic flows or pyroclastic density currents may cascade down in all directions,” Solidum told a news conference, warning villagers and tourists not to venture into the no-go zones and airplanes to stay safely away from the crater and ash-laden winds.

More than 27,000 villagers have fled since Mayon started acting up more than a week ago.

The volcano had started showing increased activity or unrest since Jan.14.

Mayon is in coconut-growing Albay province, about 340 kilometers (210 miles) southeast of Manila. With its near-perfect cone, it is popular with climbers and tourists but has erupted about 50 times in the last 500 years, sometimes violently.

In 2013, an ash eruption killed five climbers who had ventured near the summit despite warnings. Mayon’s first recorded eruption was in 1616 and the most destructive, in 1814, killed 1,200 people and buried the town of Cagsawa in volcanic mud.

The Philippines lies in the so-called “Ring of Fire,” a line of seismic faults surrounding the Pacific Ocean where earthquakes and volcanic activity are common.

In 1991, Mount Pinatubo in the northern Philippines exploded in one of the biggest volcanic eruptions of the 20th century, killing about 800 people. /je /atm

Mayon Volcano’s restive state. Photo from George Gio Brondial, Inquirer Southern Luzon