Indonesia’s Merapi volcano ejects towering column of ash

Mount Merapi shoots volcanic ash as seen from Cangkringan, Yogyakarta, Indonesia, Friday, June 1, 2018. The country’s most volatile volcano shot a towering plume of ash about 6 kilometers (4 miles) high on Friday in an eruption that authorities said lasted two minutes. (AP Photo/Slamet Riyadi)

JAKARTA, Indonesia — Indonesia’s Mount Merapi shot a towering plume of ash about 6 kilometers (4 miles) high on Friday in an eruption that authorities said lasted two minutes.

The National Disaster Mitigation Agency said the volcano’s alert status, raised last month from the lowest level, is unchanged and a 3-kilometer  (1.8-mile) no-go zone around the crater remains in force.

It said the eruption at 8.20 a.m. caused no panic and nearby Adi Sucipto Yogyakarta International Airport is still open to flights.

The mountain is about 30 kilometers (18 miles) from the center of Yogyakarta city on the densely populated island of Java.

About a quarter million people live within a 10-kilometer (6-mile) radius of the volcano.

Merapi’s last major eruption in 2010 killed 347 people.

Indonesia, an archipelago of more than 250 million people, sits on the Pacific “Ring of Fire” and is prone to earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. Indonesian government seismologists monitor more than 120 active volcanoes.         /kga