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Journalism of Courage
A volcano erupted in central Indonesia on Thursday, shooting plumes of white smoke and sand 1,500 meters (yards) into the air, an official said.
There were no immediate reports of injuries following the blast at Mount Soputan, located on Sulawesi island, said Sandy Manengke, a local monitoring official, noting that residents living near the crater had been evacuated beforehand.
Volcanic ash covered villages along the slopes of the 1,780-meter (1,950-yard) mountain, he said.
People living as far as 20 kilometers (12 miles) from the crater said they felt the heat after the eruption. Some were wearing face masks to protect themselves against the heavy smoke and dust.
Indonesia has more active volcanoes than any other nation because of its location on the Pacific “Ring of Fire”– a series of fault lines stretching from the Western Hemisphere through Japan and Southeast Asia.
Mount Soputan is 2,160 kilometers (1,350 miles) northeast of the capital, Jakarta.
