Indonesia's Mount Merapi volcano erupts
June 1, 2018
Indonesia's Mount Merapi volcano erupted on Friday, sending a towering plume of ash about 6 kilometers (4 miles) high.
Mount Merapi on the island of Java is considered one of the most active and dangerous volcanoes in the world. Its last major eruption in 2010 killed more than 300 people and forced 280,000 to flee.
Indonesia's National Disaster Mitigation Agency said the volcano's alert status, raised last month to one notch above normal, remains unchanged. The agency added that a 3-kilometer (1.8-mile) no-go zone around the crater also stays.
No disruption to air traffic
The eruption that lasted two minutes did not cause any panic among nearby residents, NDMA spokesman Sutopo Nugroho said.
The nearby Adi Sucipto International Airport in the city of Yogyakarta was operating normally.
About a quarter million people live within a 10-kilometer radius of the volcano.
Indonesia, an archipelago with more than 18,000 islands, lies on the Pacific "Ring of Fire," where tectonic plates collide, causing frequent volcanic and seismic activities.
ap/rt (AP, dpa)