Volcano eruption kills several in Indonesia

JAKARTA, Indonesia

At least nine people died after Mount Lewotobi Laki-Laki in eastern Indonesia erupted on Sunday, spewing explosive plumes of lava and forcing authorities to evacuate several nearby villages, officials said Monday.

Mount Lewotobi Laki-Laki, located on Flores Island in East Nusa Tenggara province, erupted on Sunday at 11:57 p.m. local time (11:57 a.m. ET), belching a fiery red column of lava, volcanic ash and incandescent rocks, Hadi Wijaya, a spokesperson for the Center of Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation, said Monday.

“After the eruption, there was power outage and then it was raining and big lightning which caused panic among residents,” he told Reuters, adding that the authority had raised the status of the volcano to level IV or the highest.

The agency has recommended clearing a radius of more than 4 miles.

Fiery lava and rocks hit the nearest settlements about 2 miles from the crater, burning and damaging residents’ houses, Hadi said.

As of Monday morning at least nine people had died, said Heronimus Lamawuran, a local official at East Flores area, adding that the eruption had affected seven villages.

“We have started evacuating residents since this morning to other villages” that are located about 13 miles from the crater, he said.

The nearest villages were covered by thick volcanic ash on Monday morning, Heronimus added.

The authorities are still gathering data on the number of evacuees and damaged buildings.

Indonesia sits on the “Pacific Ring of Fire,” an area of high seismic activity atop multiple tectonic plates.

This eruption follows a series of eruptions of different volcanoes in Indonesia. In May, a volcano on the remote island of Halmahera, Mount Ibu, led to the evacuation of people from seven villages.

North Sulawesi’s Ruang volcano also erupted in the spring, prompting authorities to evacuate more than 12,000 people.

Last December, a surprise eruption at Mount Marapi in West Sumatra province killed two dozen climbers on their way up the up the nearly 9,480-foot mountain.