1,500 flee volcano in the Philippines

1,500 flee volcano in the Philippines

LEGAZPI, Philippines (Reuters): A Philippine volcano which has been restive for weeks spewed out columns of ash on Wednesday, forcing 1,500 villagers to flee their homes, but there were no casualties, officials said.

Mayon volcano in the central Philippines rumbled for four minutes in a steam-driven explosion which blanketed two nearby villages with ash, the provincial disaster coordinating council said.

A council spokesman said 330 families fled from the two villages after ash columns towering six kilometers billowed out of the volcano near the city of Legazpi in Albay province, 340 km southeast of Manila.

Legazpi is close to Mayon, a 2,460-meter high volcanic mountain which has erupted 45 times in the past 400 years. The most deadly eruption was in 1814, when about 1,200 people were killed. More recently, 77 people were killed in a 1993 eruption.