Volcano Erupts in Northern Ethiopia, Two Missing
"People living in nearby mountain ranges were also forced to retreat," he said.
The state's disaster prevention agency has dispatched investigators and relief supplies to the area that lies about 980 kilometres north-east of the capital, near the frontier with Eritrea and Djibouti, ENA said.
The volcano's name was not given, and it was not immediately clear if it was Mount Arteale, the only active volcano in Ethiopia, which erupted some two years ago.
That eruption, releasing a thick blanket of ash and plumes of smoke, caused the displacement of more than 50,000 Afar nomads and the death of hundreds of livestock.
Arteale had been largely dormant for the previous six decades, but started to spew molten lava after a series of earthquakes rattled the region in September 2005.