Bukittinggi, July 23 -- Mount Marapi, an active volcano located within the Tanah Datar and Agam districts of West Sumatra, erupted Wednesday morning, sending ash 1.6 kilometers above its peak and creating a plume visible from nearby cities.

"An eruption was recorded on Mount Marapi on Wednesday at 7:23 a.m. local time, with ash columns reaching 1,600 meters above its summit, or 4,491 meters above sea level," Ahmad Rifandi, an officer at the Marapi Observation Post, noted in a statement cited in Bukittinggi, West Sumatra.

He noted that the thick ash columns appeared white to gray and drifted southeast.

"The eruption was detected on the seismograph with a maximum amplitude of 30.5 mm and lasted for one minute and 18 seconds," Rifandi rem...