Eruption Blasts Summit Off Indonesia's Mount Sinabung Volcano | The Weather Channel
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No injuries were reported in one of the largest eruptions to date.

ByPam WrightFebruary 22, 2018




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A massive eruption of Indonesia's Mount Sinabung Monday was so powerful it blasted the summit right off the volcano.

The eruption of the volcano in North Sumatra blew smoke and ash 3 miles into the air, forever altering the mountain's peak, the Associated Press reports. 

Indonesia’s Center for Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation said the peak of the volcano was “completely annihilated” and shared before and after photos of the volcano showing a huge chunk missing from the top of the mountain. 


This before and after photo released by the Center for Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation (PVMBG) of Indonesian Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry shows the peak of Mount Sinabung in Karo, North Sumatra before, top, and after with a graphic line superimposed on the area of the new crater following its eruption on Monday.

(PVMBG via AP)


The volcano, one of 120 active volcanoes in Indonesia and part of the Pacific "ring of fire," has been active since 2010 after a long period of dormancy, but Monday's eruption was one of the strongest to date. No injuries were reported in this blast, although some dramatic video has surfaced of children running from their school in fear as the massive column of ash rose into the air.

(MORE: Mount Sinabung's Eruption In August Sends Ash 2.6 Miles Into the Air)

Previous eruptions since 2010 on Mount Sinabung have resulted in at least 17 deaths, AP reported after another huge eruption in August.

Eruptions of the volcano that lies about 47 miles southwest of Kualanamu International Airport in Medan has forced the closure of the airport on several occasions in recent months because of spewing ash. 


Slideshow

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School children walk as Mount Sinabung erupts in Karo, North Sumatra, Indonesia, Monday, Feb. 19, 2018. Rumbling Mount Sinabung on the Indonesian island of Sumatra has shot billowing columns of ash more than 16,400 feet into the atmosphere and hot clouds down its slopes. The volcano, one of three currently erupting in Indonesia, was dormant for four centuries before exploding in 2010.(AP Photo/Sarianto)