Thousands flee as volcano threatens villages

Jakarta – More than 25,000 people have fled their homes following a series of eruptions and lava flows from a volcano in Indonesia.

Mt Sinabung, on Sumatra, sent hot rocks and ash up to 5000 metres into the air several times on Saturday, National Disaster Mitigation Agency emergency response director Tri Budiarto said.

‘‘ So far, 25,516 people have been evacuated. There’s nobody now within a five- kilometre radius of the crater.

‘‘ We are urging those living within seven kilometres southeast of the crater to move, too,’’ he said.

Hot lava, which has been spewing from the volcano for the past two weeks, had flowed into a river and filled up valleys with volcanic fragments, he said.

‘‘ There were small secondary explosions when lava flows came into contact with the water, but there are no casualties so far.

‘‘ We are urging people not

to carry out any activity in the rivers,’’ Budiarto said.

Mt Sinabung is one of 129 active volcanoes in Indonesia, which straddles the Pacific Ring of Fire.

It had been quiet for about 400 years but rumbled back to life in 2010, and again in September last year.

In August, five people were killed and hundreds evacuated when a volcano erupted on a small island in East Nusa Tenggara province.

The country’s most active volcano, Mt Merapi in central Java, killed more than 350 people in a series of eruptions in 2010.