At least seven people were killed after a volcano erupted in western Indonesia on Sunday. Reports claim that two people are in critical condition.
Mount Sinabung, a volcano in North Sumatra province of Indonesia, erupted spewing volcanic ash as high as 3 kilometers (2 miles) into the sky on Saturday, said National Disaster Management Agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho.
He added that ash tumbled down the slopes as far as 4.5 kilometers (3 miles) westward into a river.
The victims of the eruption were caught unawares as they were working on their farms in the village of Gamber, about 4 kilometers (2.5 miles) away from the slope. The photos taken by local authorities on Sunday showed evidence of pyroclastic flows – a fast-moving cloud of hot volcanic gases, rocks and ash – in the village.
Local Disaster Management Agency informed that a man died Sunday at a hospital. It added that rescuers including soldiers, police, and personnel from disaster combating agencies, as well as volunteers and villagers, stopped search operations after they found there were no more victims or villagers inside the danger zone.
Indonesia’s Mount Sinabung had been lying dormant for four centuries before waking up in 2010, killing two people.