North Kuril's Ebeko volcano spews ash 2.5 km above sea level

YUZHNO-SAKHALINSK. Dec 6 (Interfax) - The Ebeko volcano on the North Kuril Island of Paramushir spewed ash 2.5 kilometers above sea level on Wednesday morning, the press service for the Russian Emergency Situations Ministry's department in the Sakhalin region said.

The ash plume billowed five kilometers northeast, it said.

"There was no ash fall in Severo-Kurilsk [the only populated locality on the North Kuril Islands]. There was no smell of hydrogen sulfide in the air or a threat to the population's daily life either," the department said.

The 1,156-meter-tall Ebeko volcano is located in the northern part of the Vernadsky Ridge, seven kilometers from Severo-Kurilsk. It is a complex stratovolcano with several summit craters. The previous eruption happened in 2012, followed by a period of calm until October 2016.

Ebeko was designated aviation color code orange, which means its ash might endanger low flying aircraft.