An active-volcano in Indonesia which has been spurting lava for about four months erupted on Saturday killing villagers only a couple days after officials cited lower volcanic activity and allowed 14,000 people who live around the mountain to go back home, the Associated Press reported.
Merapi, the active volcano in Sinabung, has been monitored by scientist nonstop. but according to officials it is nearly impossible to determine when a volcano will erupt, and villagers live on the land because the eruptions make for fertile soil, the AP reported.
The blasts began on Saturday and sent lava into the air and almost 3 miles away National Disaster Mitigation Agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said, according to the AP. Local television showed the surrounding villages and farms covered in a gray ash.
Nugroho stated at least 14 people have been confirmed dead but that number may rise due to many missing persons and a rescue mission which was cut short because of the spurting lava and ash, the AP reported.
"The death toll is likely to rise as many people are reported still missing and the darkness hampered our rescue efforts," Lt. Col. Asep Sukarna told the AP. He was part of the rescue team which removed charred bodies from the mountain.
The dead included a television journalist and four high-school students and a teacher who were visiting the mountain to see the eruptions up close, according to the AP.
After the eruption, the 14,000 people who were allowed back home were taken back to the evacuation camp sites to join another 15,000 people who were still waiting for word on when they would be able to go back home, the AP reported.
Due to their location in the Pacific "Ring of Fire" where about 130 volcanoes are highly active and violent, according to the AP.
