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Rescuers in Indonesia raced to seek out survivors in villages blanketed by molten ash on Sunday after the eruption of Mount Semeru killed not less than 14 individuals and left dozens injured.
The eruption of the most important mountain on the island of Java caught locals without warning on Saturday, sending 1000’s fleeing and forcing lots of of households into makeshift shelters.
At the least 11 villages of Lumajang district in East Java had been coated in volcanic ash, submerging homes and automobiles, smothering livestock and leaving not less than 1,300 evacuees in search of shelter in mosques, faculties and village halls.
“We didn’t realize it was scorching mud,” stated Bunadi, a resident of Kampung Renteng, a village of about 3,000 folks. “Unexpectedly, the sky turned darkish as rains and scorching smoke got here.”
Dramatic footage confirmed Semeru pumping a mushroom of ash into the sky that loomed over screaming residents of a close-by village as they fled.
At the least 56 folks, together with two pregnant ladies, had been injured within the eruption, well being officers stated, and most suffered severe burns.
President Joko Widodo on Sunday ordered a speedy emergency response to seek out victims after the size of the catastrophe turned clear, stated state secretary Pratikno.
The nation’s geological company stated rain is anticipated within the subsequent three days that might additional hinder rescue work.
There may be additionally a threat of the rain inflicting ash sediment to kind a brand new river of scorching lava, the nation’s prime volcanologist Surono informed the TV station.
Many individuals who sustained burns had mistaken the recent mud movement for floods so stayed of their villages, stated Lumajang Public Order Company spokesman Adi Hendro. “They didn’t have time to run away,” he stated.
Lava combined with particles and heavy rain destroyed not less than one bridge in Lumajang, stopping rescuers from accessing the world.
Ash spewed by the volcano travelled as much as 4 kilometres away, Indonesia’s geological company reported, reaching so far as the Indian Ocean within the southern a part of Java.
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