Bali's Mount Agung spews out black smoke as it begins to erupt
After threatening to do so for weeks, Bali's Mount Agung has finally begun to erupt, with pictures showing a black ash cloud rising 700 metres in the air.
The eruption was confirmed by the Volcanology and Geological Disaster Mitigation Centre on Tuesday afternoon.
Indonesia's National Disaster Management Agency said the eruption was reasonably limited for the time being and urged local residents to stay calm.
There has been no change to an evacuation zone around the volcano, which extends between 6-7.5km from the summit.
The evacuation zone was halved from its initial size when the volcano threatened to erupt in late September, causing numerous tremors.
Approximately 29,000 evacuees are currently living in shelters around the volcano, considerably less than the 150,000 people who were in shelters in September.
In the weeks since, the volcano threat has been downgraded and Bali's Ngurah Rai International Airport remains open for the moment.
However, authorities said the danger zone around the volcano was "dynamic" and alert levels may change as Agung continues to erupt.
