YUZHNO-SAKHALINSK, April 24 (RIA Novosti, Pyotr Tsyrendorzhiyev) - Mount Ebeko, a volcano on the island of Paramushir, which belongs to the Northern Kuril chain in Russia's Far East, has started emitting vapor and gas, a local emergencies official said Monday.

"A weather station in Severo-Kurilsk, a town seven kilometers (about 4 miles) away, has reported that the volcano was emitting vapor and gas," the spokesman said, adding that a team of researchers from the Volcanology and Seismology Institute based on the Kamchatka Peninsula was monitoring the volcano.

According to experts, there are 36 active volcanoes on the Kuril chain, and at least seven others are also considered to be dangerous, including the Mendeleyev, Golovnin, Tyatya, Grozny, Baransky, Chirip, and Chikurachki.

This year, the volcano emitted vapor and gas in February, following phases of activity in 2005, 1999 and 1998, but calmed down in March.