Mt. Kanlaon Natural Park on Negros Island, Philippines, witnessed rivers of cold lava following an explosive eruption on Monday. Videos circulating on the internet show a torrent of grey mud and rocks, known as cold lava flow, or lahar, roaring down a watercourse in Biaknabato village in Negros Occidental province.
The eruption sent a plume of ash kilometres into the sky, and caused dozens of flights to be cancelled and hundreds of people to be evacuated, BBC reported. The authorities informed the news outlet that further eruptions were possible.
The mixture of volcanic material and pebbles flowing down the slope of a volcano in the rain is known as Cold lava. Cold lava is a translation of "lahar" in Indonesian and Tagalog. The phrase 'cold lava' translates the term "lahar" in Indonesian and Tagalog.
Lahars are mammoth flows of volcanic debris deposited on a volcano's slopes and unleashed by heavy rain or snow melt. They can bury villages.
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"We are still determining the extent and volume of the lahar," Teresito Bacolcol, director of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology told AFP.
Bacolcol warned the public that lahar contained volcanic ash and was "dangerous".
Hundreds of people were evacuated from their homes around Mount Kanlaon due to falling ash, gases and the threat of lahars.
The state volcanology agency has raised the alert level for the volcano from one to two on a zero-to-five scale, warning more explosive eruptions were possible.
The Philippines is located in the seismically active Pacific "Ring of Fire" that contains more than half the world's volcanoes.
Kanlaon is one of 24 active volcanoes in the archipelago nation.
