An aviation warning has been triggered following the eruption of Shiveluch volcano on the far eastern Russian peninsula of Kamchatka, vast ash clouds being shot high into the sky with many nearby villages smothered in volcanic dust.

While no indications of any human fatalities or injuries are yet to be announced, the Kamchatka Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Geophysical Survey has revealed that an area of around 42,000 square miles has been affected, the eruption followed by a 5.8 magnitude earthquake striking off the coast of Kamchatka.

Around 300,000 people live in the peninsula separated from Japan by the Sea of Okhotsk, with the Kamchatka Volcanic Eruption Response Team issuing a ‘red notice’ for aviation, warning that “ongoing activity could affect international and low-flying aircraft”.

“The ash reached 20km high, the ash cloud moved westwards and there was a very strong fall of ash on nearby villages,” said Danila Chebrov, director of the Kamchatka branch of the Geophysical Survey. “The volcano was preparing for this for at least a year... and the process is continuing though it has calmed a little now.”

The last major volcanic activity to affect air travel was the eruption of Icelandic volcano Eyjafjallajökull in 2010, the aftermath resulting in around 104,000 flights being cancelled and air travel in Europe in chaos for around a month.