SUVA, Feb. 1 (Xinhua) -- A submarine volcano erupted on Wednesday in the South Pacific island nation of Vanuatu, which is in the Pacific "Ring of Fire" where tectonic plates collide, causing frequent seismic and volcanic activity.

According to Radio New Zealand on Wednesday, the active underwater volcano, which is six km east of Vanuatu's Epi island, started to erupt on Wednesday morning, shooting plumes of ash into the sky.

The reports quoted Ricardo William, a senior volcano officer at Vanuatu's meteorology and geo-hazards department, as saying that the volcano has been trembling and spitting steam since early Wednesday morning.

The volcano activity increased a little bit to explosions, which propelled ash to some 100 km that fall around the submarine volcano, he said, adding that the eruption was enough to trigger several warnings.

Vanuatu officials have raised the volcano alert to the first level, which means "minor unrest," on a scale of one to five.

The aviation industry as well as the marinas have been advised to stay away from the east of Epi island region. A watch alert was also issued for other islands surrounding Api, an island in Vanuatu's Shefa province.

The underwater volcano is one of a series of active underwater volcanic cones and a caldera that last erupted in 2004. Enditem

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