Sombroulu, Dec. 5 (BNA): Ten people trapped after the eruption of Indonesia’s Semeru volcano were evacuated on Sunday, as the death toll from the disaster rose to at least 13 and dozens were injured.
Mount Semeru, the highest mountain on the island of Java, dumped towers of ash and hot clouds on Saturday that blanketed nearby villages in East Java province and prompted people to flee in panic, Reuters reported.
Authorities said the volcanic eruption cut off a strategic bridge linking two districts in the nearby Lumagang district of Malang city and destroyed buildings.
BNPB official Abdul-Mahari said in a press release that 13 people were killed after the blast, two of whom have been identified. The statement said that ninety-eight were wounded, including two women, and 902 people were evacuated.
Authorities said most of the injuries were burns.
A Reuters witness said houses were destroyed in the dense, gray ash-covered Sombroulu district, while volunteers tried to drive away motorists who wanted to return to their homes near Semeru.
An official with Indonesia’s search and rescue agency told Metro TV news channel that evacuations had been suspended due to hot clouds hampering efforts.
An official with a local disaster mitigation agency said other obstacles include heavy rocks and hot volcanic sediments that limit movement.
Thorikul Haq, a local official in Lumagang, said earlier that sand miners were trapped around their work sites.
The Indonesian Ministry of Transport said, on Sunday, that the volcanic eruption did not disrupt flights by belly, despite alerting pilots to be careful of ash.
Semeru, with an elevation of more than 3,600 meters (12,000 ft), is one of about 130 active volcanoes in Indonesia. It erupted in January, causing no casualties.
Indonesia is located on both sides of the “Pacific Ring of Fire”, which is a very seismically active region, where the various plates meet on the Earth’s crust and cause a large number of earthquakes and volcanoes.
MI