Death toll rises to 34 after volcano eruption in Indonesia

Seventeen people are still missing

Published on 07/12/2021 - 09:00 By RTP - Jacarta

At least 34 people died and 17 are still missing after the eruption of Semeru, the biggest volcano on the island of Java, showed today (7) a new balance of the Indonesian authorities.

The death toll rose from 22 to 34, Indonesia's National Disaster Agency spokesman Abdul Muhari said.

According to a previous assessment of the body, at least 51 people were injured with burns, including 35 in serious condition.

About 5,200 people were affected by the Semeru eruption, with more than 1,700 evacuated to the 19 shelters created, while around 3 thousand homes and 38 schools, within a radius of five kilometers from the crater, were damaged, as well as a bridge connecting two of the main cities in the region.

The eruption of the Semeru volcano, in the Lumajang district, in the province of East Java, took place on Saturday (4) and caused a huge column of ash that reached 12,000 meters.

The volcano is in intermittent activity, with several eruptions every day since the weekend.

Heavy rains and the activity of the volcano are hampering the work of rescue teams, who are looking for survivors in the 11 communities in the region.

Indonesia is located in the so-called "Ring of Fire" of the Pacific, where the encounter of continental plates causes high seismic activity. The Southeast Asia archipelago has nearly 130 active volcanoes.

In late 2018, a volcano eruption between the islands of Java and Samatra triggered an underwater landslide and tsunami, killing about 400 people.

Text translated using artificial intelligence.

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