Moscow, Apr 11 (IANS): The Shiveluch volcano in Russia's far eastern Kamchatka Peninsula erupted on Tuesday and spewed an ash plume up to 15 km into the sky, posing threat to air traffic.

The Institute of Volcanology and Seismology of the Far Eastern Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences has declared the highest "red" hazard designation for aviation, Xinhua news agency reported.

There was a threat that streams of hot lava could block the road, it warned.

The Institute also noted the volcano ash could travel up to 20 km and block the Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky-Ust-Kamchatsk highway.

The sky was covered with a black cloud within a radius of several kilometres from the volcano, with thunder rumbling due to static electricity in the ash cloud.

Ash began to fall in the village of Klyuchi in the Ust-Kamchatsky District of the Kamchatka Territory, where about 4,000 people live.

The thickness of volcanic ash in Klyuchi village has reached 8.5 cm.

Due to the eruption, some schools are closed on Tuesday.

Shiveluch is one of Kamchatka's largest volcanoes, with a height of more than 3,200 meters.

It includes three main structures: the Old Shiveluch volcano, an ancient caldera and the active Young Shiveluch volcano.

The most recent eruption of Young Shiveluch started on August 15. 1999, and continues as of 2021.

On February 27, 2015, Shiveluch erupted shooting ash into the atmosphere about 30,000 ft crossing the Bering Sea and into Alaska.