Volcano on the "Pacific Ring of Fire" erupts again

Maumere - The Indonesian volcano Lewotobi Laki-Laki has erupted again.

The 1584-metre-high crater ejected a mixture of gas, rock and lava on Thursday, which fell in a radius of around one kilometer, according to the Indonesian Volcanology and Disaster Prevention Center.

The mountain on the remote island of Flores hurled columns of ash into the air eleven times. The last one was around 8000 meters high. There were initially no reports of damage, deaths or injuries.

It was the second eruption of Lewotobi Laki-Laki this week and, according to reports, even stronger than the one on Monday, in which nine people were killed and 64 injured.

On Monday, 4400 residents had to seek shelter in emergency shelters. Seven schools, almost two dozen houses and a monastery were destroyed. The volcanic activity then subsided somewhat. However, the authorities warned those who had fled not to return to their homes.

Lewotobi Laki-Laki is one of the 120 active volcanoes in Indonesia.

The country with around 280 million inhabitants is located on the so-called Pacific Ring of Fire, a zone along the coasts of the Pacific Ocean where plates of the earth's crust shift against each other, which is why earthquakes and volcanic eruptions often occur there.