WORLD

Indonesia eruption sends 800 people fleeing

There were no reports of any deaths or injuries

DT · Apr 18, 2024, 9:58 AM

This handout photograph taken and released by the Center for Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation on April 17, 2024, shows Mount Ruang spewing hot lava and smoke as seen from Sitaro, North Sulawesi. A volcano erupted several times in Indonesia's outermost region overnight on April 17, forcing hundreds of people to be evacuated after it spewed lava and a column of smoke more than a mile into the sky. — Handout / Center for Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation / AFP

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AFP) — A volcano erupted several times in Indonesia’s outermost region overnight Wednesday, spewing lava and a column of smoke more than a mile into the sky.

Mount Ruang, a stratovolcano in North Sulawesi Province, first erupted at 9:45 p.m. on Tuesday, pushing an ash column two kilometers into the sky, the country’s volcanology and geological agencies said.

Ruang erupted again twice in the early hours of Wednesday, pushing the smoke higher to 2.5 kilometers.

There were no reports of any deaths or injuries but more than 800 people were evacuated from two villages on Ruang island to the nearby island of Tagulandang, state news agency Antara reported.

Authorities had also imposed a four-kilometer exclusion zone around the crater, which is more than 100 kilometers north of provincial capital Manado.