Thousands of villagers flee Indonesian volcano

Jakarta, Jul 28: More than 3,000 villagers have fled the area around a volcano in eastern Indonesia after it started blasting out hot gas and lava, officials said today.

Saut Simatupang, a senior vulcanologist, told Sources the alert status for Mount Karangetan on Siau island was now at maximum.

''There is a hot gas cloud as far as 2.5 kilometres from the southern or southeastern parts of the volcano. Since it (the cloud) is near to villagers' homes we have upgraded it to the top alert status,'' he said.

The official said there had been no casualties, but the lava flow was only 400 metres away from some villagers' homes.

He said that villagers had been evacuating on their own accord at night, but were returning during the day to work.

''The latest situation tends to show a decrease, with the hot gas cloud declining.'' Siau lies north of Manado on Sulawesi island, which is 2,200 km northeast of the capital Jakarta.

Rustam Pakaya, a senior health ministry official in Jakarta, said there were four villages threatened by the volcano.

''There are 3,400 people evacuating. But they return to their home and work in the morning,'' Pakaya said.

REUTERS

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