FOG BLOG WORLD NEWS LOG: GAS CLOUDS, LAVA SENDS LOCALS FLEEING AS MT. SEMERU ERUPTS IN INDONESIA!

Indonesia's Mount Semeru sends locals fleeing as eruption unleashes gas clouds, lava rivers Authorities raise alert level for volcano on island of Java to the highest level Indonesia's highest volcano on its most densely populated island released searing gas clouds and rivers of lava on Sunday in its latest eruption.

Monsoon rains eroded and finally collapsed the lava dome atop 3,676-metre Mount Semeru, causing the eruption, according to National Disaster Management Agency spokesperson Abdul Muhari.

Several villages were blanketed with falling ash, blocking out the sun, but no casualties have been reported. Several hundred residents, their faces smeared with volcanic dust and rain, fled to temporary shelters or left for other safe areas.

Thick columns of ash were blasted more than 1,500 metres into the sky, while searing gas and lava flowed down Semeru's slopes toward a nearby river.

Increased activities of the volcano on Sunday afternoon prompted authorities to widen the danger zone to eight kilometres from the crater, said Hendra Gunawan, who heads the Center for Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation.