The colourful festival takes place on 19 January but festivities start on the evening before.

It marks the baptism of Jesus in the River Jordan and is considered one of the most important religious festivals in Ethiopia.

Crowds, which included people from across the UK, met at the New Bingley Hall in the city at the weekend to mark the occasion.

Attendees take part in night-long prayers and hymn services leading up to the annual festival, which dates back to the 4th Century.

The event is registered as an intangible cultural heritage by UNESCO.

The smoke coming from Mount Dofan that began around 17:00 local time (14:00 GMT) on Thursday “has a fiery plume and it’s very high,” Sultan Kemil said.

In a video posted by the Ethiopian Geological Institute on its Facebook page steam and debris can be seen shooting out from the mountain.

In recent weeks, there have been more than a dozen seismic events around Awash Fentale – an earthquake-prone area of Ethiopia’s Afar region.

Abdu Ali, the chief administrator of the local area in Afar told Ethiopia’s FBC news site that an evacuation process is under way to prevent harm to residents.

He is quoted as saying that there have been earthquakes that are getting “higher and stronger”.

Tremors have also been felt away in Addis Ababa.

Shiferaw Teklemariam, from the Ethiopian Disaster Risk Management Commission, told the Reuters news agency that while it was too early to classify the activity as an eruption, authorities were taking precautions.