Thousands of villagers living near Indonesia’s Mount Semeru were racing for refuge Sunday to the wail of emergency sirens as lava snaked towards their homes under a black sky after the volcano erupted.
Thousands of villagers living near Indonesia’s Mount Semeru were racing for refuge Sunday to the wail of emergency sirens as lava snaked towards their homes under a black sky after the volcano erupted.
Locals fled on motorbikes sometimes three at a time as a mushroom cloud of ash approached and monsoon rains lashed the area in East Java.
“It was dark and raining. The rain did not consist only of water, but also volcanic ash. It was like mud,” said an AFP journalist on the scene.
Indonesian authorities raised their alert level for the volcano to its highest after the crater spewed hot ash a mile into the sky.
It came only a year after the volcano last erupted, killing at least 51 people and laying waste to homes.
