MANILA, April 8 (Xinhua) -- An explosive eruption rocked Mount Kanlaon in the central Philippines on Tuesday morning, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology said.

"An explosive eruption is currently ongoing at the summit vent of Kanlaon that began at 5:51 a.m. local time today," Ma. Antonia Bornas, the institute's volcano monitoring and eruption prediction division chief, said in a radio interview.

In an advisory, the institute said the eruption "is producing a voluminous bent plume approximately 4,000 meters tall drifting southwest."

"Pyroclastic density currents descended the slopes on the general southern edifice," the institute added.

The institute and netizens posted videos of the erupting volcano spewing a voluminous plume.

The institute did not raise the alert level on the volcano despite the eruption. Kanlaon volcano has been on alert level 3 since its last eruption in December last year.

Alert Level 3 signifies that a volcano exhibits magmatic unrest, meaning magma is moving towards the surface. There is an increased chance of a hazardous eruption, including explosive activity, lava flows, and pyroclastic density currents.

Kanlaon, which straddles the provinces of Negros Oriental and Negros Occidental on the island of Negros, is one of the country's 24 most active volcanoes. Enditem

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