Photos: Indonesia's erupting Sinabung volcano belches column of ash

People watch as Mount Sinabung spews volcanic material during an eruption in Karo, North Sumatra, Indonesia. The 2,600-metre (8,530-feet) volcano erupted Tuesday, sending volcanic materials a few thousand meters into the sky and depositing ash on nearby villages.

Vulcanologists recorded 13 separate blasts as Mount Sinabung leapt to life, belching debris up to 5,000 metres (16,400 feet) above Sumatra.

There was no immediate danger to life or property, authorities said, with a five-kilometre ring around the volcano having been left unoccupied over recent years.

Muhammad Nurul Asrori, a monitoring officer at Sinabung, said Tuesday's plume of smoke and ash was the largest he had seen since 2010, and warned that it could still get bigger.

Sinabung, a 2,460-metre volcano, was dormant for centuries before roaring back to life in 2010 when an eruption killed two people.

After another period of inactivity, it erupted again in 2013 and has remained highly active since. In 2014, an eruption killed at least 16 people, while seven died in a 2016 blast.

Sinabung is among more than 120 active volcanoes in Indonesia, which is located on the "Ring of Fire,'' an arc of volcanoes and fault lines encircling the Pacific Ocean.

A farmer tends to a farm as Mount Sinabung spews ash into the sky, as seen from Karo, North Sumatra.

The volcano, one of two currently erupting in Indonesia, has sporadically come to life since then.

Some 30,000 people have been forced to leave homes around Sinabung in the past few years.