Tokyo, Aug 12: A volcano erupted on a deserted Japanese island in the Pacific Ocean today, spewing smoke and ash into the air for the first time in 63 years, officials said. The volcano on Tori island, part of a chain of small islands south of Tokyo, was last active on August 18, 1939, meteorological agency spokesman Yohei Hasegawa said.
An agency official confirmed the eruption during a flight over the island in a Japan coast guard aircraft, after a ship reported smoke rising from the mountain, he said.
The island, home to an endangered albatross species, hasn't been inhabited since the meteorological agency withdrew its scientists from an observatory there in 1965, following a major earthquake , Tokyo city official Yuichiro Shimozawa said. About 30 residents lived there until they were evacuated just after the 1939 eruption, he said.
In 1902, the volcano erupted, killing all 125 residents on the island. Bureau Report