At least 13 people died and dozens were injured after the eruption of the Semeru volcano this Saturday (4) in Indonesia, the country’s Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) told Kompas TV news channel.
According to BNPB official Abdul Muhari, two victims have already been identified. The agency also reported that dozens were hospitalized, most with burns — the agency says there were 35, while a leader from the Lumajang district in the region says 41.
The eruption still left ten people trapped in mines near the volcano, but the Muhari did not give details about their health. Lumajang local authority Thoriqul Haq said earlier that the miners were held back at their workplaces.
Semeru, the highest mountain on the island of Java, spewed towers of ash and clouds of heat that covered nearby villages in the eastern part of the province and caused panic. The eruption damaged a strategic bridge connecting Lumajang with the city of Malang, as well as destroying buildings, officials said.
At 3,600 meters high, Semeru is home to one of nearly 130 active volcanoes in Indonesia, which had already erupted in January this year, leaving no casualties.
The Asian country extends across the Pacific Circle of Fire, a highly active seismic zone where different plates of the earth’s crust meet, generating a greater number of earthquakes and volcanoes. This Sunday (5), for example, Indonesia registered an earthquake of magnitude 6, in the north of Halmahera, 2,000 km from Semeru. There were no victims.
The country’s deadliest volcanic eruption in recent years has been on Mount Merapi, near the densely populated city of Yogyakarta in central Java. The volcano erupted in late 2010, killing more than 350 people.
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