Tsunami alert after a Ruang volcano has several big eruptions and thousands are told to leave

Mount Ruang spewing hot lava and smoke as seen from Sitaro, North Sulawesi. - AFP

JAKARTA: Indonesian authorities issued a tsunami alert Wednesday (April 17) after eruptions at Ruang mountain sent ash thousands of feet high. Officials ordered more than 11,000 people to leave the area.

The volcano on the northern side of Sulawesi island had at least five large eruptions in the past 24 hours, Indonesia’s Center for Volcanology and Geological Disaster Mitigation said. Authorities raised their volcano alert to its highest level.