At least 14 dead after Mount Semeru eruption

(CNN) – At least 14 people were killed and thousands displaced after Mount Semeru, A volcano Authorities in Indonesia’s East Java province said the explosion erupted on Saturday.

Indonesia’s National Disaster Management Board (BNPB) said in a statement on Sunday that the eruption injured 98 more people, including two pregnant women, after ash covered villages and left people fleeing from the billowing clouds. debris.

At least 300 families were evacuated after the eruption, according to Indah Amperawati, deputy director of Lumagang District, an area close to the volcano.

In its statement Sunday, the office said search and rescue efforts were continuing, but did not specify how many people had been reported missing.

Authorities say the situation at Mount Semeru remains dangerous due to the dangers of lava flows, a mixture of ash, rock and volcanic gases that can be much more dangerous than Lava.

“We recommend that everyone increase their alertness because the risk of potential lava flows remains high. It can happen at any time without any warning,” the Observation Post chief told CNN on Sunday. Monte Semero, Lesuanto.

Lisuanto said Sunday that his team has recorded two lava flow events. The first was at five in the morning local time and the second at ten in the morning local time. The deadly volcanic substance penetrated into the village of Korah Kubokan, which was evacuated on Saturday.

Lisuanto said they urged people living within 10 kilometers of the volcano to evacuate, because the lava flows are “extremely hot, and the temperature can reach over 1,000 degrees Celsius.”

Lisuanto said that since there are no signals or methods to predict when the lava flow will occur, this phenomenon can be very dangerous.

Evacuations are underway

A rescue volunteer in Indonesia’s Lumagang district told CNN on Sunday that he and his team removed the bodies of six miners from a river in the village of Korah Kubokan, as they were digging sand on the riverbank.

Volunteer Muhammed Firman Adiguna Efasa, 32, said some miners were still inside their cars, while others were found lying on the ground near the trucks. It is not clear if these six deaths are part of the 14 deaths previously announced by the authorities.

He added that he was concerned that there could still be more miners or other victims, but that they would not survive because the lava flood was so severe.

According to the statement, the authorities have turned schools, mosques, municipality buildings and village homes into evacuation centers.

Java is the largest population center in the huge Indonesian archipelago of islands and is home to the capital city of Jakarta. At an altitude of more than 3600 meters, Mount Semeru is highest mountain in java.

The deputy director of Lumagang Indah district said most of the burn victims were taken to Penangal Primary Health Center along with a resident who died in Korah Kubokan village.

At the press conference, Indah said emergency services were unable to reach several other villages due to road closures due to mud and fallen trees.

At the press conference, Major General TNE Suhariyanto, BNPB chief, said the armed forces had been called in for people and equipment to support the rescue efforts.

After arriving at the scene on Sunday, Suharyanton said gathering information on the number of victims and the homeless has been difficult, and that the exact number of victims and homeless is still unclear.

Budi Santosa, head of disaster management in East Java province, said on Saturday that two sub-regions were “severely affected” by the eruption.

Volcanic ash and a sulfur smell were first reported around 3 p.m. local time (3 a.m. Miami time), according to the Mount Semeru Volcano Monitoring Center. The station added that hot ash clouds were falling towards East Java village, Sabitarang, in Pronogyo District.

Videos released by government emergency response teams showed residents fleeing from huge clouds of ash. Other photos posted by local residents showed people gathering at a local mosque in Pesuk Kobokan, as smoke covered the surrounding streets.

Santosa said at the press conference that he believed that health facilities in the disaster area, whether they were primary health centers or hospitals, could house the victims.

His team is trying to carry out evacuations and set up refugee camps in the area that will provide food, masks, blankets and shelter for the displaced population.

Indonesia lies between two continental plates in what is known as the Ring of Fire, a band around the Pacific basin that leads to high levels of tectonic and volcanic activity.