TOKYO (AP)--A
volcano erupted in northern
Japan on Saturday, following two earlier eruptions in September,
the Meteorological Agency said. No injuries or damage were reported.
Mount Komagatake,
on Japan's northernmost island of Hokkaido, erupted at about 2:43
a.m., belching a pillar of white smoke 3,960 feet into the sky,
the agency said.
The nearby
town of Shikabe was coated with a fine layer of ash.
As a precaution,
five towns set up disaster prevention headquarters, said meteorological
agency official Toshiyuki Ueno.
It was too
early to say whether new eruptions were likely, said Hirohito
Naito, also a meteorological agency official.
The most
recent eruptions of the 3,716-foot volcano, 441 miles northeast
of Tokyo, occurred on Sept. 4 and Sept. 28.
A major eruption
in 1929 killed two people and a burst in 1856 killed 20. Another
eruption in 1640 is believed to have killed about 700 people.
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