Flight chaos as massive volcano goes off in Russia

An enormous volcanic eruption has sent an ash cloud 12 miles into the sky, threatening aircraft and turning day into night.

The volcano is one of the world's most active.

There were doomsday like scenes in Russia on Tuesday as the enormous Shiveluch volcano erupted, sending an ash cloud 15km into the sky, threatening aircraft and turning day into night.

Lava flows tumbled from the volcano, which had been threatening to erupt for the past year, melting snow and prompting a warning of mud flows along a nearby highway.

Villages were carpeted in drifts of grey ash as deep as 9cm, the deepest in 60 years.

Residents said the morning sky had turned to darkness.

“The sun should be shining but is nowhere to be seen,” said one.

“The village is under a cloud of ash from the Shiveluch volcano. It’s pitch dark. You cannot see anything.”

Commentary on another video said as day turned to night: “That’s it, the lights are out. No sunlight.”

Lava flows from the Shiveluch volcano in the Kamchatka Peninsula eastern Russia. Picture: APTN

The volcano sent a cloud of ash across a vast swath of the Kamchatka Peninsula and potentially posing a risk to flights, according to local volcanology authorities.

The Kamchatka Volcanic Eruption Response Team (KVERT), which monitors eruptions in the region, issued an aviation code red after the eruption, reporting that the ash cloud had drifted hundreds of kilometres to the north and southwest of Shiveluch.

“An extrusive eruption of the volcano continues. Ash explosions up to 15 km a.s.l. (above sea level) could occur at any time. Ongoing activity could affect international and low-flying aircraft,” the KVERT notice said.

A video of the eruption posted to Telegram by the head of the local Ust-Kamchatsky administration, Oleg Bondarenko, showed a wall of dense grey ash billowing from one end of the horizon to the other.

The ash cloud reached 15km into the atmosphere.

Roads were soon covered in ash after the eruption.

In a separate post, Bondarenko said locals were “advised to stay at home, do not leave the premises unnecessarily”.

According to KVERT, Shiveluch is 60,000 to 70,000 years old, and is one of the largest volcanoes in Kamchatka.

The volcano is one of the world's most active.

The Kamchatka Peninsula is sparsely populated, with the Smithsonian Institution’s Global Volcanism Program estimating that fewer than 12,000 people live within a 100 km radius of Shiveluch.