Lava continues to cascade down the slopes of the Mayon Volcano as seen from Legazpi City, Albay around 340 kilometers (210 miles) southeast of Manila, Philippines, at dawn Tuesday, January 16, 2018. Glowing red lava was rolling down the slopes of a Philippine volcano as authorities maintain a warning of a possible hazardous eruption. (AP Photo/Earl Recamunda)
The Mayon Volcano exploded on Tuesday morning, sending a huge gray column of lava fragments, ash, and steam up to five kilometers high, the Philippine Institute of Seismology and Volcanology (Phivolcs) said.
Ma. Antonia Bornas, chief of Phivolcs’ Volcano Monitoring and Eruption Prediction Division, said that the volcano erupted around 8:45 a.m., caused by pockets of steam underneath the magma column.
“Meron po tayong pockets of steam na naiipon sa ilalim po ng magma column kaya po pumuputok, katulad ng kahapon,” Bornas told INQUIRER.net in a phone interview.
However, she said that the eruption was only classified as a “shortlived explosion event” and not the “sustained eruption” that they were closely monitoring on.
(This is a developing story, please refresh for updates.)
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