Giant underwater volcano found off Indonesia

Giant underwater volcano found off IndonesiaJakarta - Scientists have discovered a giant undersea volcano off Indonesia's Sumatra island, the state-run Antara news agency said Friday.

The volcano spans 50 kilometres at its base with a height of 4,600 metres, said Yusuf Surachman, a director at the state-run Agency for the Assessment and Application of Technology.

Indonesian, American and French scientists found the volcano 330 kilometres off Bengkulu province on Sumatra while they were surveying the sea floor to study changes in its geological structure following major earthquakes in the region.

"This volcano is huge and tall. There are no volcanoes of similar height on Indonesian land," he was quoted as saying by Antara.

Surachman said the scientists did not know if the volcano was active.

"An underwater volcano is very dangerous if it explodes," he said.

Indonesia sits on the so-called "Pacific Ring of Fire," a zone of frequent earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.(dpa)