Mount Merapi eruption begins

Several people have been injured by hot ash as Indonesia’s most volatile volcano, Mount Merapi, began to erupt yesterday evening.

Up to 20 people were reported to have been taken away for treatment of their injuries.

Subandriyo, chief vulcanologist in the area, said Mount Merapi started to erupt just before dusk yesterday. It had rumbled and groaned for hours.

Scientists have warned that pressure building beneath Merapi’s lava dome could trigger one of the most powerful blasts in years.

Thousands of residents on the slopes have been evacuated, but most who fled were the elderly and children, while adults stayed to tend to homes and farms on the mountain’s fertile slopes.