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Lava bursts into night sky from Hawaii volcano fissure

WION Web Team
New Delhi, Delhi, IndiaUpdated: May 19, 2018, 08:29 AM IST
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File photo. Photograph:(Reuters)

The United States Geological Survey (USGS) released video on Friday (May 18) showing lava shooting into the night sky from Hawaii's Kilauea volcano.

The event was captured starting around 12:30 a.m. local time (1030 GMT) at fissure 17 in the volcano's Lower East Rift Zone, the USGS said.

Since Kilauea began erupting on May 3, many residents of the Puna district of Hawaii's Big Island have cleared out, even as some roadways were blocked by lava flows and gashes in the ground that spewed molten lava.

Lava flows are not new to Puna but it is unprecedented for fissures to emerge within communities like Leilani Estates and Lanipuna Gardens, which have been hard hit.

Hawaii's Kilauea volcano spewed ash nearly six miles (9 km) into the sky on Thursday and scientists warned this could be the first in a string of more violent explosive eruptions with the next possibly occurring within hours.

"This has relieved pressure temporarily," US Geological Survey geologist Michelle Coombs told a news conference in Hilo. "We may have additional larger, powerful events." 

Residents of the Big Island were warned to take shelter from the ash as toxic gas levels spiked in a small southeast area where lava has burst from the ground during the two-week eruption.