Indonesia raises alert to highest level for Lewotobi Laki-laki volcano

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JAKARTA (Reuters) -Indonesia raised the alert level of Mount Lewotobi Laki-laki to the highest after it erupted eight times over the weekend, its volcanology agency has said.

Lewotobi Laki-laki, located on Flores island in eastern Indonesia, spewed volcanic ash between 3 km (1.86 miles) to 5.5 km high on Sunday, Muhammad Wafid, the agency’s head said in a statement late on Sunday.

“Our analysis showed that the activities of Mount Lewotobi Laki-laki are still high so we raised the status level starting on Sunday at 08:00 p.m. (1200 GMT),” he said.

Images shared by the agency showed clouds of thick grey ash billowing from the crater. Rumbling noises with low to high intensity were heard from the nearest monitoring post during the eruption, Wafid added.

On Monday morning, the volcano erupted again, belching 1.2 km high ash clouds.

The agency said a six-kilometre radius from the crater must be cleared and warned the residents of the risk of cold lava flow from the crater once heavy rains took place.

There has not been any evacuation of residents or flight cancellations due to the eruptions so far, said Heronimus Lamawuran, a local government official.

In March, an eruption at Lewotobi Laki-laki forced some airlines to cancel and delay flights into Bali, including Australia’s Jetstar and Qantas Airways.

At least nine people were killed and thousands were evacuated when the volcano erupted in November last year.

Indonesia sits on the “Pacific Ring of Fire”, an area of high seismic activity atop multiple tectonic plates.

(Reporting by Ananda Teresia, Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)