Tiamacas: An explosion at the crater of Mexico's Popocatepetl stratovolcano has hurled incandescent rock about 2.5 kilometres down its slopes and sent ash into the night sky near the nation's capital.
The Mexican government disaster agency said ash was expected to fall on towns near the crater following the outburst at 9:38 pm on Monday, local time.
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The 5,426-metre volcano has been particularly active in recent months, several times spewing out sprays of hot rock and towering clouds of ash.
According to official reports from the disaster agency the volcano has shown increased activity in the previous 24 hours.
Some 25 million people live within about 100 kilometres of the mountain's crater.