Manila: Philippine volcanologists on Saturday lowered the alert level around the Mayon volcano, indicating that a dangerous eruption was less likely three weeks after it began spewing ash and lava.
The lowering of the alert level means that thousands of people who were evacuated from an eight-kilometre danger zone around Mayon can return home, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology said.
However the institute warned that the "overall state of unrest remains relatively high", and said that people should still remain outside a six-kilometre "permanent danger zone" around the volcano.
Around 50,000 people around the area were evacuated after the institute raised the alert level to four on a scale of five on December 20, signalling that a major eruption could be imminent.
However, the institute said in a statement on Saturday that lowering the alert level to three meant that "there is less probability of a hazardous explosion".
Mayon, which is about 330 kilometres southeast of Manila, has erupted 48 times in recorded history. In 1814, more than 1,200 people were killed when lava flows buried the town of Cagsawa.
Bureau Report
