Indonesia raises alert for Mount Semeru volcano to the highest level after a series of eruptions

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JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesian authorities raised the alert for Mount Semeru volcano to the highest level on Wednesday after a series of eruptions prompted evacuations. The volcano is the highest peak on Java, the most densely populated island in Indonesia.

Mount Semeru in East Java province unleashed searing clouds of hot ash and a mixture of rock, lava and gas that traveled up to 7 kilometers (4.3 miles) down its slopes several times from midday to dusk, while a thick column of hot clouds rose 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) into the air, Indonesia’s Geology Agency said in a statement.

The eruptions that unfolded throughout the day blanketed several villages with falling ash and forced authorities to raise the volcano’s alert level twice, from the third-highest level to the highest, the agency said. No casualties have been reported.

More than 300 residents in the three villages most at risk in the district of Lumajang were evacuated to government shelters, said National Disaster Mitigation Agency’s spokesperson Abdul Muhari.

He said increased activity of the volcano on Wednesday afternoon prompted authorities to widen the danger zone to 8 kilometers (5 miles) from the crater. People were advised to keep away from an area along the Besuk Kobokan River, which is the path of the lava flow as searing gas flowed down Semeru’s slopes.

Videos on social media showed a dense cloud of ash sweeping through a forested valley to a river beneath a bridge. Several hundred residents, their faces smeared with volcanic dust and rain, fled to temporary shelters or left for other safe areas.

The 3,676-meter (12,060-foot) Semeru, also known as Mahameru, has erupted numerous times in the past 200 years. Still, as is the case with many of the 129 active volcanoes in Indonesia, tens of thousands of people continue to live on its fertile slopes.

Semeru’s last major eruption was in December last year, when it left 51 people dead and several hundred others burned in villages that were buried in layers of mud. The eruption forced the evacuation of more than 10,000 people. The government moved about 2,970 houses out of the danger zone.

Indonesia, an archipelago of more than 270 million people, sits along the Pacific “Ring of Fire,” a horseshoe-shaped series of fault lines, and is prone to earthquakes and volcanic activity.