Flights cancelled, residents flee as PNG volcano erupts

Some residents of a remote Papua New Guinea island are preparing to evacuate from the vicinity of an erupting volcano that shot a cloud of ash into the sky, forcing the cancellation of some flights.

Teams had been sent to the Mount Ulawun area on New Britain island to co-ordinate an evacuation after it began erupting on Monday, state broadcaster NBC PNG reported senior disaster management official Clement Bailey as saying.

Flights from the island's Hoskins airport had been cancelled, the broadcaster said, adding the volcano was still erupting.

PNG is on the Pacific Ring of Fire, a horse-shoe-shaped band of volcanoes and fault lines circling the edges of the Pacific Ocean.