Mount Lokon, an active volcano located in Indonesia's North Sulawesi province, erupted on Wednesday afternoon, forcing people living around the volcano sought refuge, local media reported.

Mount Lokon, an active volcano located in Indonesia's North Sulawesi province, erupts on Wednesday afternoon. [irishweatheronline.com]

"Since the volcano was blanketed by fog, the escalation of the explosion was not visible," Surono, head of Vulcanology and Geology Disaster Mitigation section at the Energy and Mineral resources ministry said.

He added that the eruption took place at 13.25 p.m. local time (06:25 GMT).

According to Surono, the sound of the explosion was clearly heard by people living around the volcano, spewed volcanic ashes on the surrounding areas.

"The explosion sound was heard in Lokon volcano monitoring post located 5 kilometers away from the volcano. Rain of volcanic ashes was reported up to 3 kilometers away from Tompaluan crater, the center of the eruption," Surono was quoted by the largest newsportal, the detik.com.

Previously the authorized agency has reduced the danger status on Lokon volcano from alert (level IV) to standby (Level III).

He said that due to the dangerous status 273 people living around the volcano had been evacuated to safe places located at least 3 kilometers away from the eruption center. They have been in shelters since Tuesday.

With the latest explosion, they were told to stay in the shelters, Surono said, adding that land tremors still occur around the volcano.