Indonesia's Mount Merapi spews hot clouds up to 2km

JAKARTA, June 12 (Xinhua): Indonesia's most active volcano Merapi has emitted hot clouds three times up to 2,000 meters into the sky from its peak, according to the Geological Disaster Technology Research and Development Center on Friday (June 11).

The first hot clouds were erupted at 8.11am local time to as high as 2,000 metres for 167 seconds and the next hot clouds were flowing at 8:18am local time to 1,500 metres high for 99 seconds.

The third hot clouds were streaming down at 10,38am local time for 127 seconds.

Located between Yogyakarta and Central Java provinces, the status of the 2,968-meter high volcano is currently at its third level of danger.

The centre has urged people not to move to the dangerous zone within a radius of 3km from the volcano's peak and to stay away of rivers that flow from Merapi, such as Kuning, Boyong, Bedog, Krasak, Bebeng and Putih rivers.

Meanwhile, an earthquake with a magnitude of 5.5 jolted 147 km ESE of Gorontalo, Indonesia at 02.23.43 GMT also on Friday, the US Geological Survey said.

The epicentre, with a depth of 63.96 km, was initially determined to be at 0.0496 degrees north latitude and 124.2913 degrees east longitude. - Xinhua