PNG alert on volcano

SEISMIC activity beneath a Papua New Guinea volcano could mean that a major eruption was imminent, a volcanologist said yesterday.

Thousands of people have been evacuated from islands surrounding Kadovar Island off the South Pacific nation’s north coast since a volcano there began erupting on January 5, spouting ash.

Steve Saunders, principal geodetic surveyor at the Rabaul Volcano Observatory in Papua New Guinea, said seismic activity had recently increased beneath the volcano.