Indonesia’s Mount Lewotobi Laki Laki volcano erupts, sending ash cloud 18 kilometres in air

Indonesia's rumbling Mount Lewotobi Laki Laki erupted connected Monday (July 7, 2025), sending a file of volcanic materials arsenic precocious arsenic 18 kilometres into the entity and depositing ash connected villages.

The volcano has been astatine the highest alert level since past month and nary casualties were instantly reported.

Indonesia's Geology Agency recorded an avalanche of searing state clouds mixed with rocks and lava travelling up to 5 kilometres down the volcano's slopes during the eruption. Observations from drones showed lava filling the crater, indicating heavy question of magma that acceptable disconnected volcanic earthquakes.

The file of blistery clouds that roseate into the entity was the volcano's highest since the large eruption successful November 2024 that killed 9 radical and injured dozens, said Muhammad Wafid, the Geology Agency chief. It besides erupted successful March.

“An eruption of that size surely carries a higher imaginable for danger, including its interaction connected aviation,” Wafid told The Associated Press from Switzerland wherever helium was attending a seminar. “We shall reevaluate to enlarge its information portion that indispensable beryllium cleared of villagers and tourer activities.”

The volcano monitoring bureau had accrued the alert presumption for Mount Lewotobi Laki Laki to the highest level aft an eruption connected June 18, and much than doubled an exclusion portion to a 7-kilometre radius since past arsenic eruptions became much frequent.

After an eruption aboriginal past year, astir 6,500 radical evacuated and the island's Frans Seda Airport was closed. The airdrome has remained closed since past owed to the continuing seismic activity.

The 1,584-metre upland is simply a duplicate volcano with Mount Lewotobi Perempuan successful the territory of Flores Timur.

Monday's eruption was 1 of Indonesia's largest volcano eruptions since 2010 erstwhile Mount Merapi, the country's astir volatile volcano erupted connected the densely populated land of Java. That eruption killed 353 radical and forced implicit 350,000 radical to evacuate affected areas.

Indonesia is an archipelago of much than 280 cardinal radical with predominant seismic activity. It has 120 progressive volcanoes and sits on the “Ring of Fire,” a horseshoe-shaped bid of seismic responsibility lines encircling the Pacific Basin.