Mount Kelud volcano erupts in Indonesia

November 3, 2007

Indonesia's Mount Kelud volcano erupted Saturday but due to a thick fog around the mountain authorites could not see the event.

An estimated 350,000 people live within 6 miles of the volcano on the island of Java, about 55 miles south-west of the city of Surabaya.

There were no immediate reports of casualties and the area is shrouded in fog, blocking the view of the volcano.

A volcanologist said escalating tremors indicated the first eruption was at 4:15 PM local time.

The volcano last erupted in 1990, killing dozens of people.

The authorities have been monitoring the peak in East Java for several weeks and raised its alert status to the highest level about two weeks ago as its activity increased.

Armed police last month evacuated more than 100,000 people from the slopes of Mount Kelud - but many later returned to their villages, while others refused to leave.

Saut Simatupang, an official at Indonesia's Center of Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation, told Reuters news agency: "There is heavy cloud over there, so even ash could not be seen.

"But instrumentally it has erupted, as shown by the seismographic records that were over the scale."

In 1919 about 5,000 people died when the volcano erupted, ejecting scalding water from its crater lake and destroying hundreds of villages.

Indonesia, part of the seismically active Pacific Ring of Fire, is frequently shaken by earth tremors and volcanoes.