Indonesia's Mount Sinabung volcano, on the island of Sumatra, sent a cloud of hot ash as high as five kilometers into the sky Tuesday in its first big eruption since August.
Indonesia's Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation Center says the volcano erupted "This morning around 6:24 three kilometers to the southeast.”
No casualties were reported, but officials had earlier urged people to stay at least three kilometers from the mountain.
Mount Sinabung's activity has increased since last year and the alert for the volcano in North Sumatra province has been placed at the second-highest level.
The 2,460-meter volcano was dormant for centuries before roaring back to life in 2010 when an eruption killed two people. After another period of inactivity, it erupted again in 2013 and has remained highly active since. The volcano erupted in 2014, killing at least 16 people, and again in 2016, killing seven more.
Indonesia -- an archipelago of more than 17,000 islands and islets -- has nearly 130 active volcanoes, more than any other country. It sits on what is known as the "Ring of Fire", a belt of tectonic plate boundaries circling the Pacific Ocean where frequent seismic activity occurs.
