Status: December 6th, 2021 5:16 p.m.
Two days after the massive volcanic eruption on the Indonesian island of Java, there was another eruption. The rescue workers had to stop their work temporarily. The number of deaths rose to at least 22.
Another eruption of the Semeru volcano in Indonesia made the search for survivors even more difficult. The emergency services had to withdraw in the meantime when the volcano spat out ash again. “There was a small new eruption that could endanger the evacuation teams,” said an aide to the AFP news agency.
The 3,676 meter high Semeru volcano last erupted in January, and there were no injuries at the time.
At least 22 dead
On Saturday, about a dozen villages on the island of Java were shrouded in ashes when the volcano erupted for the first time. Lava flowed down Java’s highest mountain at 3,676 meters. Thousands of residents fled. Almost 3,000 houses and 38 schools were damaged by the volcanic eruption, according to the disaster control authority. Airplane pilots were instructed to change routes and fly around the volcano to the north.
According to the civil protection agency, at least 22 people were killed in the volcanic eruption; 27 people are missing. At least 68 people suffered burn injuries, said the local civil defense. 56 people were taken to hospitals.
The search applies above all to the missing, said a spokesman for the disaster control agency. However, the increasingly hardening lava and the ash made the work more difficult.
130 active volcanoes in Indonesia
Indonesia has around 130 active volcanoes. The island state lies on the so-called Pacific Ring of Fire. Several tectonic plates collide there, so that earthquakes and volcanic eruptions occur particularly frequently. Semeru is located in the Bromo-Tengger-Semeru National Park on Java. He has been increasingly active again since December 2020.
The Merapi on Java, the Sinabung on Sumatra and the Lewotolo on Lembata had already erupted earlier this year. At the end of 2018, a volcano erupted in a strait between the islands of Java and Sumatra, triggering an underwater landslide and a tsunami. More than 400 people were killed.