Residents in central Indonesia have been evacuated from the slopes of a volcano that has been spewing hot lava and clouds of searing gas high into the air for days.
State volcanologist Surono says Mount Karangetang has been spilling lava and shooting clouds of gas and debris up to 1,900 feet (600 meters) in the air as ash poured down its slopes.
He said on Saturday that some 582 people living along its slopes have been evacuated away from the mountain on Siau, part of the Sulawesi island chain. There were no reports of injuries, but several houses and a church were damaged.
It last erupted in August, killing four people.
Indonesia lies on the Pacific “Ring of Fire,” an arc of volcanoes and fault lines encircling the Pacific Basin.
