Semeru, Merapi barred to climbers

BANDUNG: The government has banned mount climbing on two volcanoes -- Semeru in East Java and Marapi in West Sumatra -- due to increased volcanic activity on the two mountains.

Mount Semeru spewed out hot ash to a height of up to 700 meters between Nov. 26 and Nov. 29, while Mount Marapi did the same a few days ago, said Mas Atje Purbawinata, an official at the Directorate of Volcanology and Disaster Mitigation at the Meteorology and Geophysics Agency (BMG). -- Antara