Belching Volcano Scares Away Nicaraguans

Burps out mile-wide ash cloud

Nicaragua's tallest volcano belched an ash cloud nearly a mile into the atmosphere on Saturday, prompting the evacuation of hundreds of nearby residents who heard explosions emanating from its crater.

The 5,725-foot San Cristobal volcano, which sits around 95 miles north of the capital Managua in the country's northwest, has been active in recent years, and stirred in mid-2008, when it expelled gas and rumbled with a series of small eruptions.