Indonesia's Mount Lewotobi erupts again, government to widen restricted zone


  • World
  • Saturday, 09 Nov 2024

JAKARTA (Reuters) - Indonesia's Mount Lewotobi Laki-laki erupted at least three times early on Saturday, spewing an ash column 9 km (5.6 miles) high, as authorities planned to widen the restricted area, officials said.

A big eruption on Sunday by the volcano in East Nusa Tenggara province killed nine. Since then, authorities have been scrambling to evacuate 16,000 people from villages nearest the crater as eruptions continue.

"The eruption accompanied by the ejection of hot lava and hot clouds to the west and northwest of Mount Lewotobi Laki-laki is still occurring," said Muhammad Wafid, head of the volcanology agency.

The agency plans to expand to 9 km from 8 km (5 miles) the zone southwest to northwest of the crater that people are not allowed to enter, he said.

Evacuation efforts continued, with some 10,700 people having been removed by Friday evening, data from Indonesia's disaster agency showed on Saturday.

On Friday, Mount Lewotobi erupted several times, with an ash column up to 10 km (6.2 miles) high.

(Reporting by Fransiska Nangoy in Jakarta; Editing by William Mallard)

Follow us on our official WhatsApp channel for breaking news alerts and key updates!

Next In World

Roundup: S&P 500 falls into correction territory amid continuous sell-off
Roundup: Europe against new U.S. tariffs, wine, spirits industry concerned
Number of migrants stopped entering US from Canada drops to multi-year low
Weekly storage of natural gas in U.S. decreases: EIA
Mexico cooperating with U.S. but more work needed on drugs, says Rubio
Philippines' Duterte to have first hearing at ICC on Friday
Portugal's president disbands parliament, calls election on May 18
U.S. stocks close lower
U.S. to see significant severe weather into weekend
Ukraine's Zelenskiy says Putin does not want ceasefire

Others Also Read