MOUNT SOPUTAN IN NORTH SULAWESI SPEWS MOLTEN LAVA

Tomohon, North Sulawesi, Feb 3 (Antara) - Mount Soputan in Minahasa, North Sulawesi province, was seen spewing molten lava that was flowing down close to residential areas a few kilometers away. The molten lava could be clearly at around 4am local time seen from Amurang bridge in the district of South Minahasa, Antara learned on Tuesday. Around the route of its flow, red molten lava was seen spreading in several places. Many people watched the scenery and took the picture of the volcanic phenomena. "It might have connections with the mountain's eruption that happened early on Monday morning. The flow of molten lava is still seen coming down the slope," Fentje, a local resident of Amurang, who was taking picture of the lava flow, said. A Soputan mountain monitoring post worker, Asep, said "the lava flow has continued from 00.00 hours to 06.00 hours going down as far as 500 meters westward." He said there had been no volcanic eruption since morning but tremors and tectonic quakes were still recorded. Mount Soputan erupted again at 1.22am local time on Monday with the eruption reaching 3,500 meter high. On January 6, the mountain erupted twice.