India’s only live volcano in the Andaman and Nicobar islands is erupting once again. The Barren Island volcano, located 140 km Northeast of Port Blair, dormant for more than 150 years started erupting in 1991 and has since then shown intermittent activity. A team of scientists reported that the volcano is active and spewing smoke and lava once again.
On the afternoon of 23 January, the scientific team was busy collecting sea floor samples in the Andaman Basin near the Barren volcano when it suddenly started spewing ash. The team moved about one mile from the volcano and began closely observing it. The volcano was erupting in small episodes lasting about 5 to 10 minutes. During the daytime only ash clouds were observed. However after sundown, the team observed red lava fountains spewing from the crater into the atmosphere and hot lava flows streaming down the slopes of the volcano. The volcano was revisited in the early hours of 26th January