At least six people were killed after a volcano in eastern Indonesia erupted overnight, spewing fireballs and ash over nearby villages, officials said Monday as they raised their alert status to the highest level.
Mount Levotobi Laki-Laki, a 1,703-metre (5,587 ft) high twin volcano located on the popular tourist island of Flores, erupted for the first time just before midnight, forcing authorities to evacuate several villages.
“Six people have been confirmed dead,” Abdul Muhari, a spokesman for the country’s disaster mitigation agency (BNPB), told Kompas TV.
Footage obtained by AFP showed villages near the volcano covered in thick ash and some areas on fire.
An AFP journalist near the volcano said five villages had been evacuated, affecting thousands of residents.
Some wooden houses caught fire, and flying molten rocks left holes in the ground.
The country’s volcanology agency said the crater erupted just before midnight and again at 1:27 a.m. (Sunday 1727 GMT) and 2:48 a.m.
It raised the alert level to the highest and asked locals and tourists not to carry out activities within a seven-kilometre (4.3-mile) radius of the crater.
“There has been a significant increase in volcanic activity on Mount Levotobi Laki-Laki,” it said in a press release on Monday.
It released photos showing roofs of houses collapsed and locals taking shelter in communal buildings after being hit by volcanic rocks.
rain of ashes
The Volcanology Agency warned that the rains were likely to cause lava floods and asked locals to wear masks to avoid exposure to volcanic ash.
The volcano experienced a series of eruptions last week, the largest of which occurred on Thursday, sending a plume of ash 2,000 meters (6,500 feet) into the sky.
The mountain experienced several large eruptions in January, causing authorities at the time to raise the alert level to the highest level and evacuate at least 2,000 residents.
Indonesia, a vast archipelagic nation, experiences frequent eruptions due to its location on the Pacific “Ring of Fire”, an area of intense volcanic and seismic activity.
In December last year, an eruption at Mount Marapi in West Sumatra, one of the country’s most active volcanoes, killed at least 24 climbers, most of them university students.
And in May, heavy rains caused volcanic material from Marapi to flow into residential areas and wash away homes, killing more than 60 people.
Mount Ruang in North Sulawesi province erupted more than half a dozen times that month, forcing thousands of residents of nearby islands to evacuate.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
