Jakarta - Soldiers, police and local authorities have evacuated scores of foreign and domestic visitors, and are searching for hundreds others after a volcano erupts in West Nusa Tenggara province of central Indonesia, an official of national disaster agency said on Wednesday.
“Several tourists have been evacuated and now the personnel are combing the dangerous area to find the visitors,” an official at the national disaster management agency told Xinhua.
Mount Barujari, child of Mount Rinjani spewed a column of massive ash by up to 2km to the sky, the agency said.
A total of 333 foreign holiday makers and 56 domestic visitors were visiting the volcano when the eruption took place, Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, spokesperson of the agency told Xinhua.
The authority has declared a 3km dangerous zone from the crater, the official said.
As many as 1 113 tourists were forced to leave the zone on Sunday.
Communities have been warned to be alert as the local authorities have been preparing more than 300 000 masks, according to Sutopo.
Indonesia, an archipelago country, home to over 17 500 islands, has 129 active volcanoes.
Xinhua