At least one person is dead and another 40 injured after a volcanic eruption in Indonesia. An additional 300 families were evacuated, CNN reported Saturday.
Locals in the province of East Java fled in terror after an eruption at Mount Semeru sent volcanic ash 40,000 feet into the air.
Video posted to Twitter shows residents screaming as the ash plume mushroomed behind them, blocking out the sun, according to some accounts on social media.
Images from the stricken province show motorbikes and homes under deep shales of dust and mud.
A photo taken on Dec. 3, 2021 shows volcanic materials spewing from Mount Merapi. Priyo Utomo/Xinhua via Getty Images
An image from Dec. 4 shows ash threatening to overtake a village in East Java. EPA
People ride a motorbike on a road covered with volcanic ash following the eruption. Antara Foto/Hermawan/via REUTERS“Thick columns of ash have turned several villages to darkness,” Thoriqul Haq, a local official, told TV One, Al-Jazeera reported.
Indonesia — a country of more than 270 million people — sits around the infamous “ring of fire” with more than 128 active volcanos dotted along a string of fault lines.
