Japan's Mount Shindake volcano erupts
The Shindake volcano on the Japanese island of Kuchinoerabu erupted on Friday morning, forcing the 140 residents of the island to evacuate.
"There was a really loud sound of an explosion, and then black smoke rose, darkening the sky"
The country's meteorological agency raised the alert level to five. No reports of casualties were issued, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said.
“There was a really loud sound of an explosion, and then black smoke rose, darkening the sky,” local official Nobuaki Hayashi told the national broadcaster NHK. “It smells of sulphur.”
大川氏のツイートのリツイートがえげつねえことなってるで pic.twitter.com/c1Uu7jx2cD
— UROTAN (@odsn1009) May 29, 2015
“The skies here are blue, but smoke is still rising to the west,” he said.
The ash cloud rose to as high as 9,000m and was accompanied by a five-minute volcanic quake
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe set up a crisis centre and said he had instructed local authorities to do “everything possible” to ensure the citizens' safety.
"I ordered authorities to swiftly gather information on damage, ensure local residents' safety through evacuations, and boost observation of the volcano," Abe told reporters.
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