Mar 26 (NHK) - A series of explosive eruptions has been observed at a volcano in southwestern Japan, after a lull of 10 days. The Meteorological Agency is warning people to stay away from Mount Shinmoe, and is maintaining an alert level of 3, on a scale of 1 to 5.
The volcano straddles the prefectures of Kagoshima and Miyazaki. The agency says Shinmoe sent a plume of smoke about 3,200 meters into the air on Sunday morning. Large rocks were shot into the air and landed about 800 meters from the crater.
A current of hot gas, ash and rocks hurtled about 800 meters downhill. This is the first time for officials to observe the phenomenon known as a pyroclastic flow since the explosive eruptions began early this month.
