At least 14 dead in Indonesia volcano eruption

RAW VISION: Indonesia's Mount Sinabung volcano erupts, killing at least 11 people on the western island of Sumatra.

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At least 14 people have died after a volcano on the Indonesian island of Sumatra spewed lava and hot gas.

"It is likely we'll find more victims," Benny Kaban, a local Protestant minister and aid worker, said by telephone on Saturday.

Most of the 14 victims died in a village less than 3km from the peak of Mount Sinabung, said Asren Nasution, head of the local disaster management agency.

In this night time long-exposure photograph taken on January 27, 2014 from Karo district, molten lava flow downs from the crater of Mount Sinabung volcano during an eruption. Click for more photos

Eruption of Mount Sinabung in Indonesia

In this night time long-exposure photograph taken on January 27, 2014 from Karo district, molten lava flow downs from the crater of Mount Sinabung volcano during an eruption. Photo: AFP

  • In this night time long-exposure photograph taken on January 27, 2014 from Karo district, molten lava flow downs from the crater of Mount Sinabung volcano during an eruption.
  • Villagers and a journalist prepare to flee as Mount Sinabung releases pyroclastic flows during an eruption in Namantaran, North Sumatra.
  • A villager inspects a collapsed house covered in volcanic ashfall from Mount Sinabung.
  • A giant cloud of hot volcanic ash clouds engulfs villages in Karo district.
  • A relative weeps after identifying a victim of the eruption.
  • Residents run away to escape from hot volcanic ash clouds engulfing villages in Karo district during the eruption of Mount Sinabung volcano located in Indonesia's Sumatra island on February 1, 2014. Fourteen people, including four schoolchildren, were killed February 1 after they were engulfed by scorching ash clouds spat out by Indonesia's Mount Sinabung in its biggest eruption in recent days, officials said. AFP PHOTO / SUTANTA ADITYA
  • A giant cloud of hot volcanic ash clouds engulfs villages in the Karo district during the eruption of Mount Sinabung volcano located in Indonesia's Sumatra island.
  • Indonesian men watch Mount Sinabung spewing volcanic materials during an eruption in Tiga Kicat, North Sumatra.
  • The body of a victim is covered with volcanic ash at a village in Karo district.
  • A resident runs away to escape from hot volcanic ash clouds engulfing villages in Karo district.
  • An Indonesian soldier runs on ash-covered road as he and his team search for victims of the eruption.

"They should not have been in that area," he said. "It has been off-limits to residents."

The government last month extended the exclusion zone from 5km to 7km, but on Friday, the National Disaster Management Agency said residents living in 16 villages farther than 5km from the peak were allowed to return to their homes after a lull in Sinabung's activity.

Ulya Ginting, one of the residents who had fled, told Metro TV that he had returned to his mountainside village with his father-in-law and local officials when the volcano belched hot ash and rocks.

Residents run away to escape from hot volcanic ash clouds engulfing villages in Karo district.

Residents run away to escape from hot volcanic ash clouds engulfing villages in Karo district. Photo: Reuters

"Our house and field have been destroyed, so when officials offered to renovate our house, we came with them to see our village," said Ginting, whose father-in-law was injured in the eruption.

He said many people were ascending the volcano to check on the condition of their homes and farms and those who had gone before him were unlikely to have survived.

The Disaster Management Agency said rescuers halted the search for more victims as of 7pm local time because of difficult terrain and fears of more eruptions.

Sinabung in North Sumatra's Karo district has been erupting since September, displacing more than 30,000 people.

The 2460-metre volcano had been dormant for 400 years before it erupted in August 2010.