INFERNO ERUPTS: Laki-laki Volcano Unleashes Deadly Fury, Claiming 10 Lives in Explosive Lava Plume Disaster

[The Epoch Times, Tachwedd 4, 2024](Comprehensive report by Epoch Times reporter Xia Yu) On Monday (November 4), Indonesian officials said the Lakiraki volcano erupted at midnight on Sunday, spewing explosive lava columns as high as 2,000 meters. meter, forcing authorities to evacuate several nearby villages, but still leading to many deaths.

Hadi Wijaya, spokesman for the Mitigation Center for Volcanology and Geological Hazards (PVMBG), said on Monday that Mount Lakiraki volcano on Flores Island in East Nusa Tenggara province Lewotobi Laki-laki erupted at 23:57 local time on Sunday, spewing brown fiery pillars of lava, ash and hot rocks.

“After the volcano erupted, there was a power cut, then it rained, there was thunder and lightning, and the residents panicked,” he told Reuters.

He added that authorities have raised the level of the volcano to level four, or the highest level. The agency recommended that people must evacuate within a seven kilometer (4.35 mile) radius.

Hot lava and rocks hit the nearest settlement about four kilometers (two miles) from the crater, burning and damaging homes, Hardy said.

On November 4, 2024, after the nighttime eruption of the Lakiraki volcano in Indonesia, a building collapsed in a nearby village.(ARNOLD WELIANTO/AFP)

Heronimus Lamawuran, a local official in the East Flores region, said that at least one person died on Monday afternoon and that the explosion affected seven villages.

“We started moving residents this morning to other villages about 20 kilometers (13 miles) away from the crater,” he said.

Hieronymus added that the villages closest to the volcano were covered in thick ash on Monday morning.

The Associated Press reported that the Lakiraki volcano erupted at midnight on Sunday, sending thick brown ash as high as 2,000 meters (6,500 feet) and hot volcanic ash that attacked a nearby village and burned several houses, including a convent of Catholic nuns.

Disaster management authorities said information on casualties and the extent of damage was still being gathered, and local media said more people were buried in collapsed houses.

Authorities are still gathering data on evacuees and damaged buildings.

On November 4, 2024, after the eruption of the Lakiraki volcano in Indonesia during the night,Rescue workers transport the bodies of victims. (ARNOLD WELIANTO/AFP)

Indonesia is located on the “Pacific Ring of Fire”, a region with frequent seismic activity located on multiple tectonic plates.

The eruption follows a series of different volcanic eruptions in Indonesia. In May, a volcano erupted on Mount Ibu on the remote island of Halmahera, prompting the evacuation of seven villages.

North Sulawesi’s Ruang volcano also erupted in May, prompting authorities to evacuate more than 12,000 people.

After heavy rains on May 11, flash floods and cold lava flows in Mount Marapi, West Sumatra Province, covered several nearby areas, killing more than 60 people.

Editor in charge: Ye Ziwei#