Alarm as Mount St Helens erupts steam

SEATTLE, United States (AFP) — A huge plume of steam and ash erupted from Mount St. Helens, the volcano that devastated swathes of the US northwest when it erupted 24 years ago, witnesses and geologists said.

"The mountain began erupting some steam (around 12:15am (1915 GMT)," said Mount St. Helens park ranger Greg Pohl after a colleague first spotted the plume.

"At the moment it looks like a very small event and there is an ash ...