Chunk of Indonesia's Mount Sinabung blasted away as eruption leaves peak 'completely annihilated'

A chunk of the summit of Indonesia's Mount Sinabung has been completely blown off by the force of a violent eruption that shot ash three miles into the air.

A huge hunk is shown missing from the peak in dramatic before-and-after images released by Indonesia's Centre for Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation.

The summit has been "completely annihilated", it said.

Volcanologist Devy Kamil Syahbana said the chunk, known as the "lava dome", had a volume of at least 1.6 million cubic meters.

The volcano in North Sumatra, which has been active since 2010 after centuries of dormancy, erupted explosively on Monday morning.

Hot ash clouds rolled down its slopes, shooting out as far as three miles from the crater, and ash reached Lhokseumawe, a city more than 162 miles to the northwest.

Pictures show ash fallen on parked cars and villagers starting to wash it away.

No-one was injured. Video showed screaming children fleeing a school outside the volcano's exclusion zone as a billowing column of ash rose in the background.

Mount Sinabung is among more than 120 active volcanoes in Indonesia, which is prone to seismic upheaval due to its location on the Pacific "Ring of Fire," an arc of volcanoes and fault lines encircling the Pacific Basin.

Additional reporting by Associated Press