Volcanic ash 8.5cm deep covers Russian village

STORY: The Shiveluch volcano erupted just after midnight reaching a crescendo about six hours later, spewing out an ash cloud over an area of 108,000 square kilometres (41,699 square miles), according to the Kamchatka Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences' Geophysical Survey.

Lava flows tumbled from the volcano, melting snow and prompting a warning of mud flows along a nearby highway while villages were carpeted in drifts of grey ash as deep as 8.5 centimetres, the deepest in 60 years.