PETROPAVLVSK-KAMCHATSKY, April 13. /TASS/ A Kamchatka volcano has posed a threat to air traffic because its volcanic activity has been gaining force, and the ashes discharged have spread to a distance of 319 kilometers east of the volcano, rising high into the air above a large area of the Pacific Ocean, a source from the Kamchatka branch of the Geophysics Service of the Russian Academy of Sciences told TASS on Monday. The information was received by virtue of photographs taken from space, it said.

The Shiveluch volcano, which is 3,283 meters high, has been assessed as posing an "orange" level of threat to aircraft. Any time the volcano might discharge ashes which might reach an altitude of 10,000 meters above the sea, experts said. It was not immediately known how far the volcanic tail might spread yet.

Two episodes of volcanic activity, which followed in succession within approximately 30 minutes, were registered early on April 13 when the volcano discharged ashes to the altitude of five and seven kilometers, respectively, The ashes went up into the air above the Pacific Ocean and remain there since.