Volcano erupts in Comoros
2006-05-29 09:15
Moroni - A volcano overlooking the town of Moroni in the Comoros island group off East Africa started to erupt on Sunday, creating a red cloud over its crater.
Police said that there was no immediate danger. Police had set up a special team to keep the situation under observation.
An officer said: "The eruption is confined to the crater and there is no lava flow. There was no tremor before the eruption, and this is a cause for concern."
The volcano, called Karthala, was 15km from Moroni, the Comoros capital situated on Grand Comoro, the main island of a three-island archipelago in the Indian Ocean.
The last Karthala eruption was at the end of last year after the volcano spewed an ash cloud into the air big enough temporarily to deprive Grand Comoro's 250 000 inhabitants of drinking water.
In April last year, an eruption forced about 10 000 people to evacuate their homes, but there were no casualties.
But, the lava flow from an eruption in 1977 destroyed an evacuated village, likewise causing no casualties.