PNG volcano erupts in spectacular holiday video

Updated

A man from Townsville, Queensland, has shot the holiday video of a lifetime capturing a spectacular volcanic explosion in Papua New Guinea.

Phil McNamara was off the coast of PNG filming Mount Tavurvur when it erupted.

The vision captures the shockwave moving through the air as it approaches the boat.

A few seconds later the sound catches up to the onlookers.

The video was posted on YouTube on Friday and had received more than 1.8 million views by Sunday night.

'Incandescent projections'

Authorities say the eruption in Rabaul on PNG's East New Britain Island began in the early hours of the morning on Friday, August 29.

"An eruption commenced from Tavurvur from between 3:30am and 4:00am," a bulletin from the Rabaul Volcanological Observatory said.

"The eruption started slow and slowly developed in a strombolian eruption with incandescent projections accompanied by explosion noises and ongoing loud roaring and rumbling noises."

A strombolian eruption is characterised by short-lived, explosive outbursts of fluid lava ejected tens or hundreds of metres into the air.

Mount Tavurvur destroyed the town of Rabaul when it erupted simultaneously with nearby Mount Vulcan in 1994.

By comparison this eruption is a relatively small event.

Mount Tavurvur is considered one of the most active volcanoes in the region, most recently erupting in early 2013 and recording other erruptions in 2011, 2010, 2006, 2005 and 2002, since the major 1994 explosion.

Map: Papua New Guinea's Mount Tavurvur

Topics: volcanic-eruption, papua-new-guinea

First posted