The nation's Semeru volcano, the highest peak on Java island, has erupted, covering several villages with volcanic ash, leading to evacuations and leading authorities to raise the warning to the maximum level.
The volcano in East Java province unleashed searing clouds of fiery ash and a mixture of stone, molten rock, and gases that travelled up to 4 miles down its slopes several times from noon to evening, while a thick column of hot clouds rose 1.2 miles into the sky, as stated by Indonesia’s Geology Agency.
The eruptions that unfolded throughout the day compelled officials to increase the volcano’s alert level on two occasions, from the third-highest level to the highest, the authority said. No casualties have been reported.
More than 300 inhabitants in the three communities most endangered in the area of Lumajang region were evacuated to official safe havens, as mentioned by a spokesperson for the national emergency management body.
He said that heightened volcanic movements of the volcano on Wednesday afternoon prompted authorities to expand the danger zone to 8km from the crater. People were urged to keep away from an zone along the Besuk Kobokan River, which is the path of the lava flow, as searing gas flowed down the volcano's sides.
Videos on social media showed a thick plume of ash sweeping through a wooded ravine to a river beneath a overpass. Residents, some with faces covered with ash and water, escaped to temporary shelters or departed for other safe areas.
Regional news outlets indicated that emergency teams were struggling to save about 178 individuals trapped on the 12,060-foot peak at the Ranu Kumbolo observation station. The group included 137 hikers, 15 carriers, seven guides and six travel representatives, according to an official with the national park.
“They are currently safe at Ranu Kumbolo monitoring post,” a spokesperson stated in a video statement. He noted the post was located 2.8 miles from the crater on the northern slope of the mountain, which is outside the trajectory of the fiery cloud movement that was observed moving to the south-southeast. Inclement conditions and precipitation forced the team to remain overnight there, he added.
Semeru, also called Mahameru, has burst numerous times in the past 200 years. However, as is the situation with many of the 129 live volcanoes in the archipelago, thousands of people continue to reside on its fertile slopes.
Semeru’s previous significant explosion was in late 2021, when 51 individuals were lost their lives and hundreds more were burned and settlements were submerged in layers of mud. The event led to the evacuation of more than 10,000 people from their houses.
Indonesia, an archipelago of more than 280 million inhabitants, sits along the Pacific “ring of fire”, a horseshoe-shaped series of tectonic boundaries, and is prone to seismic events and volcanism.
