At Least 14 Dead as Volcano Erupts in Indonesia, Spewing Ash Cloud

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Mount Semeru in Lumajang Regency, East Java, Indonesia spewed eruption clouds on Saturday afternoon at 3 pm Local Time (12/4), causing panic among local residents who now had to evacuate.

Searing ash towered in the sky over the Indonesian island of Java on Saturday after the Semeru volcano erupted, killing at least 14 people and injuring dozens of others.

At least 41 people suffered burns from the lava flow, Indah Amperawati Masdar, the deputy head of East Java’s Lumajang District, near Mount Semeru, said in a news conference on Saturday.

The lava nearly destroyed the village of Curahkobokan and caused a bridge to collapse, making evacuation difficult. On Sunday, the B.N.P.B., Indonesia’s disaster mitigation agency, raised the death toll to 14, from one, and the number of injured to at least 56.

Mount Semeru, which last erupted in January, is one of Indonesia’s most active volcanoes and is Java’s tallest mountain. It is among the country’s more than 120 active volcanoes; several hundred others are now considered extinct.