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Indonesia's Merapi spews lava, not clear if erupted

Posted on: Sunday, 14 May 2006, 20:44 CDT

JAKARTA (Reuters) - Indonesia's Mount Merapi volcano spewed lava and hot ash early on Monday, a regional official said, but a volcanologist said he had no confirmation of the report.

Yogyakarta Administration Secretary Bambang Susanto told Elshinta news radio that, according to information he had received, the mountain "exploded" in the pre-dawn hours.

However, senior government volcanologist Ahmad Dali told Reuters by telephone from the volcanology coordinating center in Bandung that it had received no such report from the area.

Indonesia raised the alert status of Merapi to the highest level, also known as code red or danger status, on Saturday, although experts said they could not predict when it would erupt.

Dali said an eruption of the volcano would be defined as volcanic material being ejected straight into the sky to a substantial height.

Thick clouds of charcoal gray smoke billowed periodically from the crater on Sunday, but there were no visible signs of lava flowing from Merapi, as it already has on several occasions in recent days.

Merapi is one of the most menacing volcanoes in the Pacific "Ring of Fire."

Source: REUTERS

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