MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Monserrat volcano erupts

A dome that had been growing atop the volcano on this Caribbean island collapsed Saturday, sending debris cascading down the mountain and raining ash over a wide area, scientists said. No injuries were reported.

The Montserrat government issued a statement saying residents should stay indoors, but added: "Montserrat's population is safe."

The dome had been building since August and formed the highest part of the 3,000-foot-tall volcano. Ash plumes rose to 55,000 feet and sent a pyroclastic flow of burning gas and rock fragments shooting down the eastern flank of the mountain into the Caribbean, said Sue Loughlin, director of the Montserrat Volcano Observatory.

"Although it's been an unpleasant morning with ash falling all around, it was a good thing in the near-term because it collapsed this growing lava dome into the sea," said Loughlin.

The spewing ash caused lightning and thunder above the collapsed dome. A rainstorm during the collapse sent torrents of mud and rocks down the slopes.

The Soufriere Hills volcano sprang to life in 1995. More than half the British Caribbean island's 12,000 inhabitants moved to Britain and elsewhere. An eruption in 1997 buried much of the south, including the capital, Plymouth, and killed 19 people.

Southern Montserrat is now an "exclusion zone" and many of the 5,000 people who live in the north of Montserrat were resettled there.