Steam Eruption of Volcano Injured 10 Tourists in Indonesia

Ten visitors were wounded by a phreatic eruption of a volcano in Central Java province of western Indonesia on Sunday, two senior officials said.

Head of National Volcanology Agency Kasbani told Xinhua that the eruption took place at about 12:00 a.m. Jakarta time (0500 GMT), spewing ash by up to 50 meters to the sky and emitting cold lava.

The agency has banned visitors from entering the Seleri crater, one of the ten craters in the Dieng volcano area, by a radius of 100 meters from the crater as volcanologists observed a hike in the accumulation of steam, said Kasbani.

“The tourists were already in the area of 15 meters from the Seleri crater today (Sunday) when the eruption occurred,” he told Xinhua by phone.

Spokeman of the national disaster management agency Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said that the eruption injured 10 visitors.

The injured visitors have been rushed to a nearby health clinic for medical treatment. (Xinhua)