DHAKA: More than 19,000 people have been displaced by a volcano in Indonesia that has been erupting for months and shot lava into the air nine times overnight.

An official said on Tuesday, reports The Straits Times.

Mount Sinabung on the western island of Sumatra sent hot rocks and ash 7,000 metres in the air Monday night and Tuesday morning, National Disaster Mitigation Agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said.

‘Mount Sinabung remains on the highest alert level and we have warned there should be no human activity within a five-kilometre radius of the crater,’ Nugroho said.

‘On Monday night, 19,126 people had fled their homes, and we expect that number to rise,’ he said.

BDST: 1302 HRS, DEC 31, 2013
Edited by Robab Rosan, Current Affairs Editor