Lava streams from Indonesia's Mount Merapi in new eruption

YOGYAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesia’s most active volcano erupted Monday with its biggest lava flow in months, sending a river of lava and searing gas clouds flowing 3.5 kilometers (more than 2 miles) down its slopes on the densely populated island of Java.

The rumbling sound could be heard several kilometers (miles) away as Mount Merapi erupted, sending hot ash 600 meters (nearly 2,000 feet) into the sky. Ash blanketed nearby towns, but long-established evacuation orders are in place near the volcano, and no casualties were reported.

It was Merapi’s biggest lava flow since authorities raised its danger level last November, said Hanik Humaida, the head of Yogyakarta’s Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation Center.

She said the lava dome just below Merapi’s southwest rim and the lava dome in the crater both have been active since the end of July. The southwest rim dome volume was estimated at 1.8 million cubic meters (66.9 million cubic feet) and about 3 meter (9.8 feet) tall before partially collapsing Monday morning, sending pyroclastic flows traveled fast down the southwest flank at least twice.

The 2,968-meter (9,737-foot) peak is near Yogyakarta, an ancient city of several hundred thousand people embedded in a large metro area on the island of Java. The city is a center of Javanese culture and a seat of royal dynasties going back centuries.

Merapi’s alert status has been at the second highest of four levels since it began erupting last November, and the Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation Center has not raised it despite the past week's increased volcanic activity.

People are advised to stay 5 kilometers (3.1 miles) from the crater’s mouth and to beware of the peril of lava, the agency said.

Ash from the eruption blanketed several villages and...