Volcano in western Nicaragua shoots gas, ash high into sky

San Cristobal volcano erupts in Chinandega, around 150 kilometers from Managua, Nicaragua, on Saturday.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• NEW: 20,000 may be affected and 3,000 already are, officials say


• San Cristobal Volcano erupts, a government agency reports


• Three explosions send gas and ashes 2.5 miles into the sky


• The volcano's last known eruption was last year, a U.S. museum says

(CNN) -- A volcano in western Nicaragua erupted Saturday, shooting gas and ash 2.5 miles into the sky, a government agency said.

Explosions at San Cristobal Volcano, located in the department of Chinandega about 40 miles (65 kilometers) south of the Honduran border and 80 miles north of Managua, began around 8:45 a.m. Saturday, according to an assessment from SINAPRED, Nicaragua's federal emergency and disaster management agency.

A story linked off Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega's website indicated 20,000 people in surrounding towns could be affected.

About 3,000 people in five communities were already seeing gases and other remnants after three large explosions on Saturday, SINAPRED director Guillermo Gonzalez said, according to the El Pueblo Presidente website. Authorities are considering whether to evacuate people from the area, according to the story, as they monitor the volcano and its impact.

Classes have been suspended in Chinandega department through Sunday, education official Jose Tremino said.

At about 1,745 meters (5,700 feet) San Cristobal is Nicaragua's tallest volcano, and is part of a complex consisting of five volcanic edifices, according to the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History.

Prior to Saturday, the last known eruption of San Cristobal -- which is also known as El Viejo -- was in 2011, the museum said.

Source & Image : CNN World