Mount Ibu on Halmahera island in North Maluku province has erupted, sending a six-kilometer cloud of ash into the sky

According to official reports, the mountain erupted again around 03:30 a.m. local time (1830 GMT Sunday), sending sand into the surrounding surroundings.

PHOTO | COURTESY Mount Ibu

The volcano has erupted at least 95 times since early this year and is now on the highest warning level of Indonesia's four-tiered system, as officials upped it earlier this month.

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"A column of ash was observed, grey in colour with thick intensity, drifting westward," Geology Agency head Muhammad Wafid said in a statement.

"Rumbling sounds were heard up to the (monitoring) post," he added.

PHOTO | COURTESY Mount Ibu

He urged people not to enter an exclusion zone of four to seven kilometers (2.5-4.3 miles) from the volcano's crater.

A few weeks earlier, the volcano erupted on a similar scale, spewing a massive five-kilometer-high ash tower.

Ibu is one of Indonesia's most active volcanoes, having erupted more than 21,000 times last year.

PHOTO | COURTESY Mount Ibu

According to the Geology Agency, Ibu had an average of 58 eruptions daily in 2023.

Indonesia, a vast archipelago nation, is subject to regular seismic and volcanic activity due to its location on the Pacific "Ring of Fire."

Last month, Mount Ruang in North Sulawesi province erupted more than half a dozen times, causing thousands of people on adjacent islands to be relocated.