Indonesia volcano erupts with kilometer-high ash cloud

JAKARTA

Mount Lewotobi Laki-Laki erupts spewing volcanic ash, as seen from Nobo village in East Flores, East Nusa Tenggara, on May 18, 2025.

A volcano in eastern Indonesia erupted Monday, spewing an ash cloud more than a kilometer high after authorities raised the country's highest alert level.

Mount Lewotobi Laki-Laki on the tourist island of Flores erupted shortly after midnight, sending an ash cloud 1.2 kilometers above its peak, Indonesia's volcanology agency reported.

The volcano erupted once more at 09:36 a.m., the agency said.

The latest rumblings follow authorities on May 18 evening raising the alert level of the 1,584-meter twin-peaked volcano to the highest in the country's four-tiered system.

"Lewotobi Laki-Laki's activities are still high," Indonesia's geological agency head Muhammad Wafid warned.

"The potential for a larger eruption than before can occur," he said in a statement.

A series of eruptions on May 18 spewed ash as high as six kilometers above Laki-Laki's peak, according to the volcanology agency.

Wafid urged residents to wear face masks to protect themselves from volcanic ash, while telling people not to carry out any activities at least six kilometers from the crater.

The geological agency chief also warned of the possibility of hazardous lahar floods, a type of mud or debris flow, if heavy rain occurs, particularly for communities around rivers that originate at the volcano's peak.