TOKYO, Jan 14, 2024 (BSS/AFP) - A volcano on Suwanose Island in southwestern Japan erupted just after midnight local time on Sunday, the country's weather agency said.

There were no immediate reports of injuries, and evacuations were not ordered.

But the Japan Meteorological Agency urged those in the area to "refrain from entering the danger zone".

The eruption occurred at Mt. Otake, Japan's Kyodo news service reported, adding that there was a "potential for large rocks being hurled into the air within about a 2-kilometre radius of the crater".

Japan sits on the Pacific Ring of Fire, an arc of intense seismic and volcanic activity that stretches through Southeast Asia and across the Pacific basin.