The blast triggered a ‘code red’ alert for aircraft.
One of Russia’s most active volcanoes has erupted, spewing ash plumes into the sky 5 km (3 miles) across the eastern Kamchatka Peninsula, prompting a “code red” alert for airlines.
According to volcanologists of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the Shiveluch volcano began to erupt shortly after a powerful 7.0-magnitude earthquake hit the east coast of Kamchatka early Sunday morning. They warned that another, even more powerful earthquake might be coming.
The academy’s Institute of Volcanology and Seismology released a video showing the ash cloud over Shiveluch. It extends more than 490km (304 mi) east and southeast of the volcano.
Epeko volcano in the Kuril Islands also spewed ash 2.5 km (1.5 mi) high, the agency said. It doesn’t say whether an earthquake broke out.
A “code red” ash cloud warning briefly put all aircraft in the area on alert, the Kamchatka Volcano Eruption Response Team said. A separate report carried by the official TASS news agency on Sunday said no commercial flights were affected and there was no damage to airline infrastructure.
A 9.0 magnitude earthquake could hit Kamchatka within 24 hours
Russian scientists have warned that an earthquake in the region could be a precursor to an even stronger one in southeastern Kamchatka. A second earthquake with a magnitude of 9.0 could hit “within 24 hours,” the Institute of Volcanology said.
According to Russian emergency officials, there were no immediate reports of injuries from Sunday’s quake, which struck at a depth of 6 km (3.7 mi) under the sea with an epicenter 108 km (67 mi) southeast of the nearest town.
Russian news agencies cited residents of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, a port city of more than 181,000 people that sits across a bay from an important Russian submarine base, as reporting some of the strongest tremors “in a long time.”
On November 4, 1952, a 9.0-magnitude earthquake caused damage in Kamchatka, but no deaths despite 9.1-meter (30-ft) waves in Hawaii.
