Peru's Sabancaya volcano roars to life

Peru's Sabancaya volcano rumbled back to life on Monday, spewing ash and smoke some 11,500 feet into the sky, in the latest of a series of explosions.

Local authorities warned surrounding communities could be affected by ash from the volcano which came to life at 8:24 a.m Monday.

The volcano had similar explosions on December 16.

The 20,000-foot Sabancaya, which means "tongue of fire" in Quechua, has been seismically active for 18 years. During that time, it has seen periods with eruptions of varying intensities.

Sabancaya sits atop the South America tectonic plate, which forces magma to the surface when it clashes with the neighboring Nazca plate.

Sabancaya was dormant for 200 years before erupting several times in the 1980s and 1990s.

Its current activity is coinciding with eruptions at the Ubinas volcano, also located in southern Peru, some 60 miles away.

The twin events mark the first time in recorded history Peru is host to two volcanoes seeing continuous eruptions.