3rd LD Writethru: About 120 residents reach safe place after volcano eruption in SW Japan

About 120 residents reached evacuation site located in northwest of a volcano which erupted at around 10: 00 a.m. local time Friday in Kuchinoerabu island off Kagoshima Prefecture in southwest Japan, said top spokesman of the Japanese government.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has instructed relevant officials to collect information about the "explosive" eruption, according Yoshihide Suga. There were no immediate reports on injuries so far.

Local reports said that 137 residents live on the island when the volcano erupted, adding that a helicopter is on way to the island to evacuate the residents out from the island.

The Japanese Meteorological Agency (JMA) issued alerts demanding local residents to leave the island after it upgrade its warning in the region from level 3 to level 5, the highest level of its volcano alert system.

The volcano erupted in August last year and local authorities prevent people from accessing to the volcano area since then, imposing volcanic warning of level 3 in the area.

Volcanic ash is expected to reach Yakushima island southeast of the Kuchinoerabu island at around 16:00 local time, according to NHK, Japanese public broadcaster.

Thick black smoke reaching about 9,000-meter height was witnessed when the eruption took place, according to TV footage, and the smoke turned to white with a height of 600 meters as of now. Endi