Ecuador volcano activity: Cotopaxi shoots ash 2-miles into the air, coating

Ecuador’s massive Cotopaxi volcano stirred in the early hours of Friday, with two small explosions reported and ash raining down on the southern part of nearby highland capital Quito.

They stressed that the almost 20,000-foot snow-capped volcano is not about to erupt.

Authorities nevertheless suspended ascents of Cotopaxi, which is popular with mountaineers.

However volcanologist Teofilos Turkeridis told local channel Teleamazonas overnight that the ash emitted by the volcano is indicative of very violent explosions inside, a warning which could preface “the worst scenario”.

There has been an unusually high level of seismic activity and sulphur dioxide emissions from the volcano south of the capital Quito since mid-April.

Patricio Ramon, an official from Ecuador’s geophysics institute, confirms that due to this situation, the population is being informed and updated about what’s happening with the 6000 meter high volcano.

One onlooker captured the volcano’s explosion soaring above clouds in a short video taken during a flight.

The last eruption took place in 1940, according to the Smithsonian Institution’s Global Volcanism Program.

Cotopaxi is viewed as one of the world’s most risky volcanoes because of an icy cover that makes it inclined to quick moving volcanic shake and mud streams, or lahares, and its vicinity to a vigorously populated range.

This report includes material from Reuters and the Associated Press.