The colossal explosion punched a billowing fist of ash and rock into the air as panic quickly spread. The eruption took place in Indonesia’s West Java, the most populated province. Tangkuban Perahu volcano, located some 19 miles (30km) north of West Java’s provincial capital of Bandung, erupted on Friday morning for the first time in nearly six years.
The volcano is a popular tourist attraction where visitors can even eat boiled eggs cooked by the crater’s geothermal heat.
The eruption lasted about five minutes, according to a spokesman for the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB), Agus Wibowo.
The volcano monitoring center said ash fell in a 1-2-kilometer radius around from the crater.
The agency announced a temporary closure of tourist locations nearby and the evacuation of the area as it evaluates the status of the volcano.
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The disaster agency said communities around the mountain should be aware it could have a “phreatic” or steam-blast eruption that expels gas and ash without warning.
Broadcasters showed footage of cars and motorbikes driving away from Tangkuban Parahu on roads covered by ash.
The blast did not cause any deaths or serious injuries, though several people were reportedly treated for breathing difficulties after the eruption.
The Center for Volcanology and Geological Disaster Mitigation (PVMBG) made a statement based on analysis that further eruptions of Mount Tangkuban Perahu might possibly occur, as ongoing tremors are still being recorded.
Indonesia is located on the Pacific Ocean’s Ring of Fire – a region encompassing over 75 percent of the world’s active and dormant volcanoes.
The Indonesian archipelago has dozens of active volcanoes spread across more than 17,000 islands and islets, which at times pose a threat to residents on the more heavily populated islands, such as Bali and Java.
141 million people inhabit the long, narrow island of Java.
Almost ten million of these live in Indonesia’s booming capital, Jakarta.