Fifteen killed as Mt. Merapi spew hot lava

JAKARTA (JP): Mt. Merapi in Central Java spewed steam and lava at midday yesterday, killing 15 people, burning hundreds of others and leaving 36 missing.

Thousands of people living in an area south of the volcano, which was immediately declared a danger zone, were evacuated by trucks to emergency shelters at government offices and school buildings.

The 2,962-meter-high Merapi in the southern part of Central Java is one of 127 volcanoes in Indonesia, which lies along the what is known as the Pacific Ring of Fire.

The village most hard hit was Turgo, which is located near the Kaliurang tourist grounds. Kaliurang, 25 kilometers north of Yogyakarta, was later declared a closed area.

The victims suffering burns were taken to community health centers, command posts and Yogyakarta's Panti Rapih, Bethesda and Sardjito hospitals.

A spokeswoman for the Sardjito hospital told The Jakarta Post last night that the 12 victims who died there included two children.

"All the victims brought here suffered serious burns, which affected half of their bodies," Sri Wahyuni, who was speaking for the hospital, said.

Two of the three victims who died at Panti Rapih hospital were children, a spokesman for that hospital told the Post.

The burns were caused by the 20 clouds of steam, which gushed to a height of 800 meters, sweeping down about six kilometers from the crater, with temperatures ranging between 300 and 600 degrees Celsius, a local official said.

Volunteer workers from the Indonesian Red Cross and the Search and Rescue team were still trying to locate the missing people last night.

The volcano, which is located some 30 km north of Yogyakarta, started showing signs of activity on Sunday when 250 to 300 small trembles were detected from around the mountain.

The first eruption occurred at 10:15 a.m. yesterday, Mas Atje Purbawinata, head of the Volcanic Observation Office, in Yogyakarta, said later in the day.

"Within 50 minutes, 20 eruptions were recorded," he said.

Local residents said the eruptions happened so swiftly that many people, who were working in their fields, had no time to run to safety.

The volcano also sent down lava which descended into the surrounding rivers of Krasak, Kuning, Bebeng and Boyok.

Atje said the southward movement of the clouds of steam was mainly because the collapse of the south side of Merapi's crater. He said a similar thing occurred in 1984 when clouds of steam reached eight kilometers from the crater.

Merapi last erupted in November 1976, when 28 people were killed and 1,176 were left homeless. (02/wah/mun/pwn)