EAST FLORES: A volcano in eastern Indonesia erupted again on Tuesday, blowing an ash column into the sky a day after it spewed fireballs on nearby villages that killed nine people.
Mount Lewotobi Laki-Laki, a 1,703-metre (5,587-feet) twin volcano located on the popular tourist island of Flores, shot flaming rocks at residential areas overnight Monday, setting wooden houses on fire and pockmarking the ground.
Authorities said it killed at least 10 people and injured dozens more, but on Tuesday revised the toll down by one.
Lewotobi Laki-Laki erupted again on Tuesday, shooting ash a kilometre into the sky (0.6 miles), according to an AFP journalist near the volcano.
There were no immediate reports of fresh damage to villages surrounding the crater.
The local search and rescue agency in the town of Maumere on Flores said in a statement that no residents had been reported missing, but rescuers were still combing through the volcanic debris as a precaution.
Some nearby residents who appeared to have stayed in their homes were evacuating in trucks after the latest eruption, the journalist said.
Authorities on Monday raised the volcano’s alert level to the highest of a four-tiered system, telling locals and tourists not to carry out activities within a seven-kilometre (4.3-mile) radius of the crater.
Roofs of houses collapsed after they were hit by volcanic rocks, and locals were forced to shelter in communal buildings after the eruptions.
Residents described their horror when they realised they were in the shadow of an eruption, which they said was initially masked by adverse weather.
“I saw flames coming out and immediately fled. There were ashes and stones everywhere,“ said 32-year-old hairdresser Hermanus Mite.
The disaster mitigation agency said more than 10,000 were affected.
There were multiple tremors and eruptions at the volcano last week, sending columns of ash between 500 and 2,000 metres (6,500 feet) into the sky several days in a row.
Laki-Laki, which means “man” in Indonesian, is twinned with a calmer volcano named after the Indonesian word for “woman”.
Indonesia, a vast archipelago nation, experiences frequent eruptions due to its position on the Pacific “Ring of Fire”, an area of intense volcanic and seismic activity.
