Pictures: Volcano erupts in Russian far east, carpeting villages in ash

Shiveluch, one of Russia's most active volcanoes erupted on the far eastern Kamchatka peninsula on Tuesday, shooting a vast cloud of ash far into the sky that smothered villages in drifts of grey volcanic dust and triggered an aviation warning.

The Shiveluch volcano erupted just after midnight reaching a crescendo about six hours later, spewing out an ash cloud over an area of 108,000 square kilometres, according to the Kamchatka Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences' Geophysical Survey.

Lava flows tumbled from the volcano, melting snow and prompting a warning of mud flows along a nearby highway while villages were carpeted in drifts of grey ash as deep as 8.5 centimetres, the deepest in 60 years.

There were no immediate reports of casualties, though scientists said the volcano was still erupting 15 hours after the start of the eruption.

The Kamchatka Volcanic Eruption Response Team (KVERT) issued a red notice for aviation, saying "ongoing activity could affect international and low-flying aircraft." Some schools on the peninsula were closed and residents ordered to stay indoors. | Above: File photo: A satellite image shows the Shiveluch volcano on the Russia's Kamchatka peninsula.

Pictures showed the cloud billowing swiftly over the forests and rivers of the far east and of villages covered in ash.

"The ash reached 20 kilometres high, the ash cloud moved westwards and there was a very strong fall of ash on nearby villages," said Danila Chebrov, director of the Kamchatka branch of the Geophysical Survey. "The volcano was preparing for this for at least a year... and the process is continuing though it has calmed a little now," Chebrov said.

A view shows a house and a car covered in volcanic dust following the eruption of Shiveluch volcano in Kamchatka region, Russia.