| MORONI: Molten lava simmered in the main crater of the only active volcano in the Comoros on Monday but experts said there was little risk to humans from Mount Karthala's weekend eruption. As nervous residents in the capital cast wary glances at the imposing mountain, which erupted twice last year, vulcanologists said there was no immediate threat to either the city or villages in its shadow. "There is a bubbling lava lake (but) all the activity is confined within the crater," said Julie Morin, a volcano expert from the nearby French island of Reunion who was in several reconnaissance flights over the mountain. "We flew around the crater four times and we saw that all the activity was in the Chahale crater," she told reporters. Mount Karthala erupted late on Sunday, creating a red cloud over its crater as lava glowed through the night skies but there was no flow of molten rock or the ash and dust that have accompanied previous eruptions. "It was a mild magma eruption," said Hamidou Nassor, head of the Mount Karthala National Observatory, adding, however, that scientists could not rule out the possiblity of increased activity in the coming days. The 2,361-meter (7,746-foot) volcano lies just 15 kilometers (nine miles) from Moroni, the capital of three-island Indian Ocean achipelago on the main isle of Grand Comore. |