Volcano eruption in Indonesia killed 10 people, set houses on fire

ALL IN “PANIC”

Local people said that the first explosion was masked due to adverse weather conditions.

“We did not hear any warning signs because it started with thunder and lightning,” said Petrus Muda Turan, headman of a village on the predominantly Catholic island, adding that a baby and a young nun were among the dead.

“After midnight, people started evacuating in panic. We didn’t know what to bring while we were running, so we took ourselves.”

Authorities warned of the potential for lava floods from rain and advised people to wear masks to protect themselves from volcanic ash.

An airport in Maumere, Flores’ second-largest town, was temporarily closed and a desk was set up for locals to report missing relatives, said Abdul of the disaster agency.

Supriyanto Ridwan, head of the Maumere search and rescue agency, said thick ash and mud from rain early Monday hampered search efforts but conditions had eased.

“An hour ago the volcano roared but no hot clouds or lava were seen,” he told AFP on Monday.

Multiple tremors and explosions occurred at the volcano last week, sending columns of ash between 500 and 2,000 meters into the sky for several days in a row.

Laki-Laki, which means “man” in Indonesian, matches a quieter volcano named after the Indonesian word for “woman.”

There were several large eruptions on the mountain in January, prompting authorities to raise the alert to the highest level and evacuate at least 2,000 residents.

Indonesia, a vast archipelagic country, is subject to frequent eruptions due to its location on the Pacific “Ring of Fire”, an area of ​​intense volcanic and seismic activity.

In December last year, there was an eruption of one of the country’s most active volcanoes. Mount Marapi At least 24 climbers, most of them university students, were killed in West Sumatra.

In May, more than 60 people died as a result of heavy rains carrying volcanic materials to residential areas in Marapi and sweeping away houses.

That month, Mount Ruang The eruption erupted more than half a dozen times in North Sulawesi province, forcing the evacuation of thousands of residents on nearby islands.