Lewotobi Laki-Laki, a 1,703 meter high volcano on the tourist island of Flores in eastern Indonesia, spewed flaming rocks onto populated areas, setting wooden houses on fire overnight from Monday to Tuesday.
Initially, the authorities had reported ten deaths before revising this toll slightly downward, with nine people dead. Several dozen people were injured. More than 10,000 people were affected by these eruptions, according to authorities.
The residents were all evacuated
The respite was short-lived since Lewotobi Laki-Laki erupted again on Tuesday, projecting ashes a kilometer into the sky, according to an AFP journalist present on site. There is no immediate information on further damage in villages not far from the crater.
Rescuers on the island of Flores said in a statement that no residents were missing. Nearby residents who had not left their homes after the first eruption were evacuated in trucks after the second.
Local authorities established a security perimeter with a radius of seven kilometers around the crater and asked residents and tourists not to approach.
The volcano experienced numerous tremors and eruptions last week, projecting columns of ash between 500 and 2,000 meters into the sky for several days in a row.
The vast Indonesian archipelago experiences frequent seismic and volcanic activity due to its position on the “Pacific Ring of Fire.”
