Indonesia’s Merapi volcano unleashes lava, hundreds evacuate

Indonesia’s Mount Merapi volcano spewed avalanches of hot clouds in eruptions overnight Thursday that forced about 250 residents to flee to temporary shelters and left ash blanketing nearby villages and towns. No casualties were reported. The volcano on the densely populated island of Java unleashed clouds of hot ash at least seven times just before and after midnight and fast-moving pyroclastic flows, a mixture of rock, lava and gas, travelled up to 5 kilometers down its slopes, said National Disaster Mitigation Agency’s spokesperson Abdul Muhari in a statement.