The Anak Krakatoa volcano in Indonesia has erupted, spewing a huge ash tower

The offspring of Indonesia’s infamous Krakatoa volcano erupted several times on Tuesday, sending massive volcanic ash towers 2,500 meters (8,200 feet) into the sky.

Mount Anak Krakatoa, which means child of Krakatoa, has erupted four times, officials said, with the largest eruption following that sent a plume of smoke and ash 1,500 meters above the crater.

“This is part of an eruptive phase linked to the formation of a new body of the volcano,” Okturi Prambada, an official at the Center for Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation, told AFP.

In 2018, the volcano’s crater partially collapsed when a major eruption sent huge portions of the volcano sliding into the ocean, triggering a tsunami that killed more than 400 people and injured thousands.

There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage on Tuesday.

Prambada said the volcano’s alert status remained at the second-highest level after the series of eruptions, as authorities imposed a five-kilometre (3.1-mile) exclusion zone around the crater.

Anak Krakatoa, which lies in a strait separating the islands of Java and Sumatra, has been active intermittently since it emerged from the sea at the beginning of the last century in a caldera that formed after the eruption of Mount Krakatoa in 1883.

It was one of the deadliest and most destructive disasters in history with an estimated 35,000 people killed.

Indonesia, an archipelago country in Southeast Asia, sits on the Pacific Ring of Fire, where the meeting of continental plates causes significant volcanic and seismic activity.

The country has approximately 130 active volcanoes.

© 2023 AFP