Indonesia’s Lewotobi Laki Laki volcano unleashes new burst of hot ash

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JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Mount Lewotobi Laki Laki, one of Indonesia’s most active volcanoes, erupted for a second straight day Wednesday, spewing towering columns of hot ash that later blanketed villages. No casualties were immediately reported.

Indonesia’s Geology Agency said an eruption in the early morning sent lava and clouds of ash up to 10 kilometers (6 miles) high. Another burst less than nine hours later sent a towering mushroom-shaped ash cloud as high as 8 kilometers (nearly 5 miles) into the air.

The rumbling volcano on remote Flores island erupted three times Tuesday. Avalanches of searing gas clouds mixed with rocks and lava fell down the slopes in the morning and midday eruptions. The third eruption of the day lit up the night sky with glowing lava and bolts of lightning.

Several villages have been blanketed in ash and debris, Hadi Wijaya, head of the Center for Volcanology and Geological Disaster Mitigation, said in a statement. He warned residents to be vigilant about heavy rainfall that could trigger lava flows in rivers originating from the volcano.

The 1,584-meter (5,197-foot) mountain has been at the highest alert level since an eruption on June 18, and an exclusion zone was set at 7 kilometers (4.3 miles) from the crater as eruptions became more frequent. Its major eruption in November 2024 killed nine people and injured dozens. It also erupted in March.

Indonesia is an archipelago of more than 280 million people with frequent seismic activity. It has 120 active volcanoes and sits along the “Ring of Fire,” a horseshoe-shaped series of seismic fault lines encircling the Pacific Basin.