8 Sand Miners Trapped by Mt Semeru Lava

Villagers on the slope of Mt Semeru take haven after an eruption on Dec. 4,20210 (Antara Photo/Muhammad Sidkin Ali)

Lumajang, East Java A minimum of one person was confirmed dead and 8 villagers working as sand miners stayed unaccounted for after Mt. Semeru in East Java emerged on Saturday.

The volcano in the district of Lumajang emerged at around 14: 30 regional time, gushing out incandescent lava and hot ashes to neighboring towns.

Indah Amperawati Masdar, the deputy for Lumajang district head, said someone died and 41 others suffered burns from lava.

Torrential rains have actually turned debris into the mud, hampering evacuation efforts in remote towns.

” About an hour ago there were still 10 people waiting for evacuation since knee-high mud avoided vehicles from reaching the location,” she stated.

She added 8 sand miners were trapped by lava but their fate remained unidentified based upon reports from the scene.

” Their mobile phones can not be reached. They made a video call previously in the afternoon calling for aid however rescue workers could not get there due to the lava. We are waiting for the condition to enhance and ideally, they are all right until we evacuate them later on,” she stated.

The National Disaster Mitigation Firm (BNPB) has sent two helicopters to the district to support evacuation works however visibility was extremely bad due to thick ashes blanketing the location.

The eruption flattened homes and forced at least 300 families from their houses in the village of Curah Kobokan, she included.

Local authorities have actually declared a restricted zone within 5 kilometers from the crater.

Mt Semeru, whose top is 3,676 meters above water level, has actually been extremely active over the last few years. In March of in 2015, it gushed lava that flowed 1,000 meters from its crater.