Indonesian volcano claims another 49 lives

ARGOMULYO, Indonesia — At least 49 people were killed and scores injured Friday when Indonesia's Mount Merapi volcano erupted again, incinerating villages as far as 18 kilometres (11 miles) away, officials said.The latest deaths bring the total toll to more than 90 since the country's most active volcano started erupting on October 26."Up to 49 people were killed and 66 people are being treated for burn injuries," said Banu Hermawan, a spokesman for Sarjito general hospital in Yogyakarta, south of the volcano.Many of the dead were children from Argomulyo village, 18 kilometres from the crater of the volcano, according to an AFP reporter at the scene and emergency response officials."Argomulyo village has been burned down to the ground by the heat clouds. Many children have died there. When I was in the village the ground was still hot," Yogyakarta police force medic Teguh Dwi Santosa told AFP.A river running through the village overflowed with a thick mixture of mud and ash, and several bodies lay unclaimed in the debris, witnesses said.Ash, deadly heat clouds and molten debris gushed from the mouth of the 2,914-metre (9,616-foot) mountain and shot high into the sky for most of the night and into the morning.There was panic and chaos on the roads as people tried to flee in the darkness, rescue workers said.The ranks of evacuees swelled past 100,000 people, with 30,000 moved into a sports stadium about 25 kilometres away from the peak."The emergency shelters are now overcrowded," emergency response field coordinator Widi Sutikno said.The international airport at Yogyakarta was closed as ash clouds billowed to the altitude of cruising jetliners and the runway was covered in gray soot, officials said.Government volcanologist Surono said Friday's blasts were the largest yet."This is the biggest eruption so far. The heat clouds went down the slopes as far as 13 kilometres and the explosion was heard as far as 20 kilometres away," he said.The exclusion zone was widened from 15 to 20 kilometres around the mounta

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