A volcano on Japan's western major island of Kyushu has erupted, forcing the evacuation of hundreds of people.
Sakurajima, which is located on the southern tip of Kyushu near the city of Kagoshima, began erupting at about 8:05 pm (11:05 GMT) on Sunday, the Japanese Meteorological Agency has said.
Onlookers reported sightings of volcanic stones raining down at an estimated distance of 1.5miles from the volcano, NHK public television said.
The eruption alert level has been raised to 5, the highest possible, with some areas advised to evacuate.
After previously being told to avoid “entering the danger zone”, residents of the city of Kagoshima were eventually asked to leave the area.
Sakurajima is one of Japan's most active volcanoes and three years ago it spewed ash over three miles high.
Video footage from Sunday's eruption showed what looked like lava flowing down one side of the volcano, with larger red globules shooting out while smoke billowed up.
Officials at Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's office were gathering information about the situation, it added.
There were no immediate reports of damage from Sunday's eruption, deputy chief cabinet secretary Yoshihiko Isozaki told a news conference, as government officials sought more information on the situation.
Nuclear regulators said there were no irregularities detected at the Sendai atomic plant, which lies about 50km (31miles) from the volcano.
Video footage showed what appeared to be a red mass flowing down one side of the volcano, with red projectiles shooting upwards.
Most of the city of Kagoshima is across the bay from the volcano.
However, several residential areas within about 3km (1.9miles) of the crater may be ordered to evacuate depending on the situation, NHK said.
It later reported that 51 people in the vicinity had been evacuated.
Located across Kagoshima Bay, which separates the city and the volcano by 4.2 km of water, its summit is just 8km east of the city of Kagoshima.
Its proximity means a large eruption could be deadly.
In 1984, an eruption at the volcano shattered the windows of the Kyoto University observatory at the foot of the mountain.
The Japanese archipelago sits atop the Pacific “Ring of Fire” where there are more than 100 volcanoes.
The 2014 eruption of Mount Ontake in central Japan killed 57 people.
