Philippines raises volcano alert level as blast sends ash skyward

MANILA: One of the Philippines’ most active volcanoes fired a dark column of ash thousands of metres into the sky on Friday (Oct 30) in a “moderately explosive eruption” that lasted nearly six minutes, the state seismology office said.

There were no immediate reports of casualties or damage in towns and cities surrounding Mount Mayon, but the country’s volcano institute raised the alert level from 2 to 3 on its 0-5 scale and called for evacuations within 6km of the crater.

The 3,000m ash column gradually drifted southwest onto nearby population centres, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology said in a bulletin.