Alaskan volcano erupts with little warning, flings ash into the air

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
A volcano has erupted with little warning on an island in Alaska, sending an ash cloud at least 9,144 meters high. The Okmok Caldera erupted Saturday morning. Seismologists at the Alaska Volcano Center detected a series of small tremors hours before. Okmok is located on one of Alaska's Aleutian Islands, 97 kilometers west of the busy fishing port of Dutch Harbor on Unalaska Island. Two planned flights from Unalaska were canceled in response to the eruption, said Jerry Lucas, a spokesman for PenAir, the primary airliner serving the area. Geophysicist Steve McNutt says the 1,067-meter volcano last erupted in 1997. He says the volcano has shown signs of increased activity during the last few months.