YOGYAKARTA, Indonesia 鈥� Indonesia鈥檚 most volatile volcano on Sunday spewed ash and hot gas in a massive column as high as 6 kilometers (3.7 miles) into the sky.
Pigeons take to the air as Merapi volcano continues to emit smoke from its crater in June 4, 2018 after spewing volcanic ash for days, as seen from Karanganyar in Indonesia鈥檚 Central Java province.聽 It spewed spewed ash and hot gas in a massive column as high as 6 kilometers (3.7 miles) into the sky on Sunday, June 21, 2020. AFP PHOTO / Agung Supriyanto
Mount Merapi鈥檚 clouds of ash, accompanied by a rumbling sound heard kilometers (miles) away, blanketed several villages on the main island of Java.
Indonesia鈥檚 Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation Center did not raise Merapi鈥檚 alert status, which already was at the third-highest level since it began erupting last August.
Villagers living on Merapi鈥檚 fertile slopes are advised to stay 3 kilometers (1.8 miles) from the crater鈥檚 mouth and should be aware of the peril of lava, the agency said.
The 2,968-meter (9,737-foot) mountain is the most active of 500 Indonesian volcanoes. It has rumbled and generated dark hot clouds since last year.
Its last major eruption in 2010 killed 353 people.
Indonesia, an archipelago of 270 million people, is prone to earthquakes and volcanic activity because it sits along the Pacific 鈥淩ing of Fire,鈥� a horseshoe-shaped series of fault lines around the ocean.