Jakarta, Nov 18 (IANS)

 Mount Merapi, the most active volcano in Indonesia, erupted earlier Monday, shooting a cloud of black ash about 2,000 metres high, officials said.

Authorities have asked travelers and tourists to stay away from the volcano located in Yogyakarta province, part of central Java, Xinhua quoted Heru Suparwoko, an official at the monitoring post of Mount Merapi, as saying. 

"Mount Merapi erupted at 4.53 local time today (Monday). The mount was rumbling and has been spewing ash since, " he told Xinhua by phone from the post.

The 2,911-metre high Mount Merapi's most violent eruption was in 2010, which killed about 350 people and displaced thousands of others.

Indonesia, a vast archipelago country with 17,500 islands, is home to 129 active volcanoes and sits on a vulnerable quake-prone zone called the Pacific Ring of Fire.