Indonesia's Mount Sinabung Volcano Spews Ash into Sky

Mount Sinabung volcano erupts as seen from Kuta Rakyat village in Karo, North Sumatra Province, Indonesia March 2, 2021, in this photo taken by Antara Foto. (Antara Foto via Reuters)
Mount Sinabung volcano erupts as seen from Kuta Rakyat village in Karo, North Sumatra Province, Indonesia March 2, 2021, in this photo taken by Antara Foto. (Antara Foto via Reuters)
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Indonesia's Mount Sinabung Volcano Spews Ash into Sky

Mount Sinabung volcano erupts as seen from Kuta Rakyat village in Karo, North Sumatra Province, Indonesia March 2, 2021, in this photo taken by Antara Foto. (Antara Foto via Reuters)
Mount Sinabung volcano erupts as seen from Kuta Rakyat village in Karo, North Sumatra Province, Indonesia March 2, 2021, in this photo taken by Antara Foto. (Antara Foto via Reuters)

Indonesia’s Mount Sinabung volcano sent a cloud of hot ash as high as 5 km (3.1 miles) on Tuesday, in its first big eruption since August last year, the country’s volcanology center said.

Mount Sinabung’s activity has increased since last year and the alert for the volcano in North Sumatra province has been placed at the second-highest level.

No casualties were reported, but an official had earlier urged people to stay at least 3 km from the crater, Indonesia’s Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation Center said.

Videos on social media showed little panic among residents over the eruption, which sent a column of white ash into the blue sky.

Wirda Br Sitepu, a 20-year-old resident, told Reuters that the situation had calmed and said “the mountain is not erupting, and the ash has decreased.”

Indonesia straddles the so-called “Pacific Ring of Fire”, a highly seismically active zone, where different plates on the earth’s crust meet and create a large number of earthquakes and volcanoes.

Indonesia has nearly 130 active volcanoes, more than any other country.

Sinabung had been inactive for centuries before it erupted again in 2010.



Letter Written Onboard the Titanic before It Sank Sells for Almost $400,000 at Auction

 This undated handout picture provided by the auctioneers Henry Aldridge & Son, England, shows a lettercard, penned by one of the Titanic's most well-known survivors from onboard the ship days before it sank, which has sold for 300,000 pounds ($399,000) at auction. (Henry Aldridge & Son via AP)
This undated handout picture provided by the auctioneers Henry Aldridge & Son, England, shows a lettercard, penned by one of the Titanic's most well-known survivors from onboard the ship days before it sank, which has sold for 300,000 pounds ($399,000) at auction. (Henry Aldridge & Son via AP)
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Letter Written Onboard the Titanic before It Sank Sells for Almost $400,000 at Auction

 This undated handout picture provided by the auctioneers Henry Aldridge & Son, England, shows a lettercard, penned by one of the Titanic's most well-known survivors from onboard the ship days before it sank, which has sold for 300,000 pounds ($399,000) at auction. (Henry Aldridge & Son via AP)
This undated handout picture provided by the auctioneers Henry Aldridge & Son, England, shows a lettercard, penned by one of the Titanic's most well-known survivors from onboard the ship days before it sank, which has sold for 300,000 pounds ($399,000) at auction. (Henry Aldridge & Son via AP)

A lettercard penned by one of the Titanic's most well-known survivors from onboard the ship, days before it sank, has sold for 300,000 pounds ($399,000) at auction.

In the note, written to the seller's great-uncle on April 10, 1912, first-class passenger Archibald Gracie wrote of the ill-fated steamship: “It is a fine ship but I shall await my journeys end before I pass judgment on her.”

The letter was sold to a private collector from the United States on Saturday, according to auction house Henry Aldridge & Son in Wiltshire, England. The hammer price far exceeded the initial estimate price of 60,000 pounds.

The letter is believed to be the sole example in existence from Gracie from onboard the Titanic, which sank off Newfoundland after hitting an iceberg, killing about 1,500 people on its maiden voyage.

Auctioneer Andrew Aldridge described it as an “exceptional museum grade piece.”

Gracie, who jumped from the ship and managed to scramble onto an overturned collapsible boat, was rescued by other passengers onboard a lifeboat and was taken to the R.M.S. Carpathia. He went on to write “The Truth about the Titanic,” an account of his experiences, when he returned to New York City.

Gracie boarded the Titanic in Southampton on April 10, 1912, and was assigned first-class cabin C51. His book is seen as one of the most detailed accounts of the events of the night the ship sank, Aldridge said.

Gracie did not fully recover from the hypothermia he suffered, and died of complications from diabetes in late 1912.