Indonesia's Merapi volcano erupted early Thursday March 10 sending clouds of searing smoke into a glowing sky as lava flows poured down its slopes, forcing more than 250 people to evacuate the area, authorities said .
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The volcano, one of the most active in the world, repeatedly threw gas, volcanic ash and rocks over a distance of five kilometers from the crater during the night, said the head of the Indonesian management agency. disasters.
"
Due to the fiery clouds, 253 people evacuated to shelters
," Abdul Muhari said in a statement.
Authorities have asked nearby residents not to enter an area within a seven-kilometre radius around the Merapi crater that risks projecting lava or other volcanic material, the official added.
Smoke and ash clouded the sky over part of the densely populated region of the cultural capital Jogjakarta on the island of Java.
Merapi Volcano's alert level was raised to the second highest in November 2020 after showing renewed activity.
The last major eruption of this volcano near the city of Jogjakarta killed more than 300 people in 2010 and caused the evacuation of some 280,000 people.
It was its most violent episode since the 1930 eruption which killed around 1,300 people.
In 1994, another eruption killed around 60 people.
There are nearly 130 active volcanoes in Indonesia, an archipelago of more than 17,000 islands and islets located on the "
ring of fire
" of the Pacific.