A toddler could have plummeted to his death on Christmas Day at Hawaii's Kilauea volcano if not for his mother's quick reaction, officials said. The National Park Service said in a statement that the toddler wandered off from his family at the Kilauea Overlook and snuck past the barrier blocking onlookers from the volcano before running toward the 400-foot cliff edge.

The eruption of Kilauea volcano on Hawaii’s Big Island has stayed within the mountain’s summit caldera inside Hawaii Volcanoes National Park.

Kilauea began erupting around 2:30 a.m. Monday morning local time at the base of the Halemaumau Crater within the summit caldera after elevated seismic activity was detected overnight.

A boy, roughly 2 to 3 years old, ran into a closed area Wednesday at the Kilauea Overlook, coming within a foot from the edge of Kaluapele, the summit caldera, before his mother managed to pull him to safety.

Kilauea, one of the world's most active volcanoes, began erupting around 2:30 a.m. local time, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.