Thousands of people fled after the eruption of Java's biggest mountain on Saturday.
Rescuers in Indonesia raced to find survivors in villages blanketed by molten ash Sunday after the eruption of Mount Semeru killed at least 14 people and left dozens injured.
The eruption of the biggest mountain on the island of Java caught locals by surprise on Saturday, sending thousands fleeing and forcing hundreds of families into makeshift shelters.
At least 11 villages of Lumajang district in East Java were covered in volcanic ash, and at least 1,300 evacuees were left in mosques, schools and village halls.
Bunadi, a resident of the village of about 3,000 people, said they did not know it was hot mud. "All of a sudden, the sky turned dark as rains and hot smoke came."
Dramatic footage showed a mushroom of ash in the sky as people fled a nearby village.
Fourteen people have died since the beginning of the year, according to the national disaster mitigation agency spokesman.
He said in an earlier statement that two of the victims had been identified.
Health officials said that at least 56 people were injured in the eruption and most suffered serious burns.
People flee the eruption.
The scale of the disaster became clear after President Joko Widodo ordered a rapid emergency response to find victims.
Rescuers and villagers worked through the night to find people alive or dead in the areas surrounding Lumajang.
The rescue efforts were hampered by hot ash and debris, with the operations temporarily suspended on Sunday due to ash clouds, according to Indonesia's Metro TV.
Rescue work could be hampered by rain in the next three days, according to the country's geological agency.
The country's top volcanologist said there is a risk of rain causing ash to form a river of hot lava.
'Mud flow'
Many people who had burns stayed in their villages because they thought the hot mud flow was floods.
The map shows Mount Semeru, which erupted on Saturday.
He told Agence France-Presse that they did not have time to run away.
They are trying to confirm the location of at least nine people.
Rescuers were unable to access the area because of the lava mixed with debris and heavy rain.
Emergency services footage showed a desolate scene in the village of Kampung Renteng, with rescue workers toiling around buckled buildings and fallen trees.
"10 people were carried away by the mud flow," said another resident.
One of them was saved. He was told to run away, but he asked who would feed his cows.
Wrecked homes.
In other areas, villagers tried to save their belongings from the destroyed homes, carrying them with them in their arms.
The people were evacuated after the eruption of Mount Semeru.
The nearby air is polluted and could affect vulnerable groups, so locals have been advised not to travel within five kilometres of the crater.
Indonesia's geological agency reported that ash from the volcano traveled as far as the Indian Ocean in the southern part of Java.
The volcano's alert status has remained at its second-highest level since its previous major eruption in December 2020, which forced thousands to flee and wrecked villages.
The head of Indonesia's centre for volcanology warned officials about increased volcanic activity on Thursday.
The Pacific Ring of Fire is where the meeting of continental plates causes high volcanic and seismic activity in Indonesia.
More than 400 people were killed when an eruption in the strait between Java and Sumatra islands caused an underwater landslide.
2021.
The death toll from the Indonesia volcano eruption has risen to 14.
The document is copyrighted. Any fair dealing for the purpose of private study or research cannot be reproduced without written permission. The content is not intended to be used for anything other than information purposes.
