Indian Andaman volcano spews smoke and lava

NEW DELHI, Monday (Reuters) A volcano on a tiny uninhabited island in India's tsunami-hit Andaman and Nicobar archipelago has started spewing smoke, dust and lava more than a decade after its last eruption, officials said on Monday.

An Indian coast guard ship sighted a thick plume of smoke on Saturday as it came close to Barren Island and authorities said they were monitoring the situation and had informed the state-run Geological Survey of India.

"There is smoke intermittently coming out from its crater and flames or lava have also been also sighted," Coast Guard spokesman, Commander Subodh Kumar told Reuters by phone from Port Blair, the capital of the chain of more than 550 islands.

The Andaman and Nicobar islands are situated on an undersea fault that continues to nearby Indonesia. The island chain has experienced hundreds of aftershocks following the powerful undersea earthquake that caused the Asian tsunami.