The toll from the Semeru volcano eruption in Indonesia has risen from one to 13 dead, the disaster management agency said on Sunday as rescuers continue to search the area.
“The death toll is now 13. Rescuers found more bodies, ”agency spokesman Abdul Muhari told AFP, adding that 10 people trapped by the eruption on Saturday had been cleared alive from the area to the east. from the island of Java.
Images showed a vast plume of gray smoke rising from the volcano’s crater on Sunday after 3 p.m. local time, triggering panic among residents of surrounding villages who fled as the region plunged into darkness in the middle of the afternoon.
The village of Lumajang was covered with a thick layer of cold lava and ash, according to AFP journalists, and residents of a dozen villages had to go to shelters and mosques to spend the night.
At least 57 people were injured in the eruption, including 41 burns, the disaster management agency said in a statement.
Mount Semeru, the highest peak in Java, rises to 3.676 meters. Images from Indonesia’s Meteorological and Geophysical Agency showed ash falling into the Indian Ocean.
The last major eruption of Semeru dates from December 2020. It also caused the flight of thousands of people and covered entire villages.
Indonesia sits on the Pacific “ring of fire” where the meeting of the continental plates causes high seismic activity. This Southeast Asian archipelago has nearly 130 active volcanoes on its territory.
At the end of 2018, the eruption of a volcano between the islands of Java and Sumatra had caused an underwater landslide and a tsunami, killing nearly 400 people.