The nation's Mount Semeru, the tallest summit on the island of Java, has erupted, covering several villages with falling ash, prompting evacuations and causing officials to elevate the alert to the highest level.
The mountain in East Java province unleashed searing clouds of fiery ash and a mixture of rock, lava and gas that travelled up to 7km down its slopes multiple times from noon to evening, while a thick column of fiery clouds rose 2km into the sky, as stated by Indonesia’s Geology Agency.
The eruptions that occurred throughout the day compelled authorities to increase the mountain's warning status twice, from the level three to the top level, the authority said. No casualties have been reported.
More than 300 residents in the three villages most endangered in the area of Lumajang were relocated to government shelters, as mentioned by a representative for the national disaster mitigation agency.
He said that heightened volcanic movements of the volcano on Wednesday afternoon led officials to expand the hazard area to 5 miles from the summit. Residents were advised to stay clear from an zone along the Kobokan River, which is the path of the molten rock stream, as searing gas flowed down the volcano's sides.
Videos on online platforms displayed a dense cloud of ash moving through a forested valley to a waterway beneath a overpass. Locals, some with faces smeared with ash and rain, fled to makeshift refuges or left for other safe areas.
Regional news outlets indicated that emergency teams were struggling to rescue about 178 individuals stranded on the 12,060-foot mountain at the Ranu Kumbolo monitoring post. The party comprised 137 climbers, 15 porters, seven escorts and six tourism officials, according to an official with the protected area.
“They are currently safe at Ranu Kumbolo monitoring post,” a spokesperson stated in a recorded message. He noted the station was situated 4.5km from the crater on the northern slope of the mountain, which is not in the path of the hot cloud flow that was observed moving to the southeast direction. Bad weather and rain forced the team to spend the night there, he explained.
Semeru, also called Great Mountain, has burst many occasions in the last two centuries. However, as is the situation with many of the 129 active volcanoes in the archipelago, thousands of residents still to reside on its fertile slopes.
Semeru’s previous significant explosion was in December 2021, when 51 individuals were lost their lives and hundreds more were injured and settlements were buried in thick mud. The eruption led to the evacuation of over ten thousand residents from their homes.
The country, an archipelago of over 280 million people, sits along the Pacific “ring of fire”, a curved series of tectonic boundaries, and is susceptible to seismic events and volcanic activity.
