Indonesia's Semeru volcano, the highest peak on the island of Java, has erupted, blanketing several villages with volcanic ash, leading to evacuations and causing officials to elevate the warning to the highest level.
The volcano in East Java province released blistering plumes of fiery ash and a mixture of rock, lava and gas that moved up to 4 miles down its sides multiple times from midday to evening, while a thick column of hot clouds rose 2km into the air, according to the nation's geological authority.
The outbursts that unfolded throughout the day forced authorities to increase the volcano’s alert level twice, from the level three to the top level, the authority reported. No deaths or injuries have been reported.
Over three hundred residents in the three villages most endangered in the district of Lumajang were relocated to government shelters, as mentioned by a representative for the national disaster mitigation agency.
He said that increased activity of the mountain on the afternoon of Wednesday led authorities to expand the danger zone to 5 miles from the summit. People were advised to stay clear from an area along the Kobokan River, which is the path of the molten rock stream, as scorching gases moved down Semeru’s slopes.
Videos on online platforms displayed a dense cloud of ash moving through a forested valley to a river beneath a overpass. Locals, some with faces covered with ash and rain, fled to makeshift refuges or departed for alternative secure locations.
Regional news outlets indicated that emergency teams were struggling to rescue about 178 people stranded on the 12,060-foot mountain at the Ranu Kumbolo observation station. The party included 137 climbers, 15 porters, seven escorts and six tourism officials, according to an spokesperson with the protected area.
“They remain secure at the Ranu Kumbolo station,” a spokesperson said in a video statement. He said the post was located 4.5km from the crater on the northern slope of the mountain, which is not in the path of the hot cloud flow that was observed traveling to the south-southeast. Bad weather and precipitation forced the group to remain overnight there, he added.
The volcano, also called Great Mountain, has burst numerous times in the past 200 years. Still, as is the situation with numerous of the 129 active volcanoes in Indonesia, tens of thousands of residents continue to reside on its productive highlands.
Semeru’s last major eruption was in December 2021, when 51 people were lost their lives and hundreds others were injured and villages were buried in thick mud. The event led to the evacuation of over ten thousand people from their homes.
The country, an island chain of more than 280 million inhabitants, is located along the Pacific seismic belt, a horseshoe-shaped series of fault lines, and is prone to earthquakes and volcanism.
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