The Colima volcano, in western Mexico, sent up three eruptions of smoke and ash on Wednesday morning, reaching up to 2km high and causing the closure of a local airport due to falling ash, Mexico's civil protection bureau announced.

The national coordinator of the civil protection bureau, Luis Felipe Puente, posted on Twitter that the first eruption took place at 1:28am, sending a column of smoke, water vapor, gas and ash 2km into the sky.

The second eruption happened at 4:36am, while some specks of lava could be seen on the volcano's southern flank. Wind also spread the ash in a southwestern direction.

This situation let to the closure of the Cuauhtemoc airport in the city of Colima, with three flights being cancelled while cleaning operations took place. The airport was set to re-open around 10am but the volcano sent up a third plume at 10:22am.

These eruptions are but the latest in a series that have happened over the last few days.

In the state of Colima, authorities have established a perimeter for 5 kilometers around the crater and 12km from the Montegrande gully near the volcano.

source: Xinhua