Mount Semeru erupts, ash plume rises 800 meters

  Mount Semeru erupted on Thursday morning, sending an ash column about 800 meters above its summit, authorities said, prompting renewed warnings as the volcano remains on the second-highest alert level.

An eruption occurred at 8:00 a.m. local time, with the ash plume reaching roughly 800 meters above the peak, or about 4,476 meters above sea level, an official at the Semeru observation post said.

The ash column was white to gray and drifted northeast with thick intensity. The eruption was recorded on a seismograph with a maximum amplitude of 22 millimeters and a duration of 101 seconds.

Data showed three eruptions on Thursday. The first struck at 4:32 a.m., producing an ash column about 500 meters above the summit, or roughly 4,176 meters above sea level.

The ash plume from the first eruption was gray and thick, moving northeast. It registered a maximum amplitude of 22 millimeters and lasted 106 seconds, the official said.

A second eruption occurred at 7:24 a.m., sending ash 500 meters above the summit. The gray plume drifted northeast and was recorded at 15 millimeters maximum amplitude for 92 seconds.

The third eruption followed at 8:00 a.m., with the ash column rising about 800 meters above the peak, authorities said.

Semeru, located on the border of Lumajang and Malang Districts in East Java Province, remains at Level III, or "Alert," status, according to the Center for Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation.

The agency advised residents not to conduct any activities within 13 kilometers southeast of the summit along the Besuk Kobokan river channel, a path frequently affected by pyroclastic flows.

Beyond that zone, people were told to avoid areas within 500 meters of riverbanks along Besuk Kobokan due to potential hot clouds and lava flows reaching up to 17 kilometers from the crater.

Residents are also barred from activities within a five-kilometer radius of the crater because of risks from incandescent rock ejections.

Authorities urged vigilance for pyroclastic flows, lava avalanches and lahars along rivers and valleys originating from the summit, particularly Besuk Kobokan, Besuk Bang, Besuk Kembar and Besuk Sat, as well as smaller tributaries.