Japanese on alert after volcano erupts

TOKYO — A volcano in southern Japan erupted Wednesday with a large column of gray smoke billowing into the sky.

The Japan Meteorological Agency raised the warning level for Mount Aso to three on a scale of five, warning hikers and residents to avoid the mountain.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said there has been no report of damages or injuries.

NHK national television aired footage of a smoke column above the volcano.

The smoke rose as high as 11,480 feet above the crater, with pyroclastic flow pouring out almost a mile down the western slope of the mountain, the agency said.

The explosion blew off volcanic rocks as far as 2,950 feet from the crater and ashfalls were detected in several towns in the Kumamoto and neighboring Miyazaki prefectures.

The warning was issued for the city of Aso and two nearby towns in Kumamoto prefecture, which is in the north-central region of the southern island of Kyushu.