Indonesia volcano: Residents flee in panic after Mt Semeru erupts - Aljazeera.com
Videos shared on Saturday by the country’s disaster mitigation agency (BNPB) showed residents running in panic as towering smoke and ash blanketed some nearby villages in Lumajang district.The deputy chief of Lumajang district, Indah Masdar, told a news conference one person had died and 41 people had suffered burn injuries.Thick debris and knee-level cold lava floods made it difficult for rescuers to search for the two missing locals and to evacuate eight people trapped in a building covered by mud.Thoriqul Haq, district head of Lumajang, said a number of sand miners were trapped near mines.Haq told Reuters news agency that the road and bridge connecting Lumajang and the nearby city of Malang were severed.The national mitigation agency said it has dispatched a team to help people at shelters but thick debris from volcanic ash had prevented them from reaching the destination.Television reports showed people running in panic under a huge ash cloud, their faces wet from rain mixed with volcanic dust.