Three dead, 76,000 evacuated after volcano erupts in Indonesia

A Volcano erupted in Indonesia’s heavily populated city of Java that has killed three people and forced more than 76,000 to evacuate.

CNN has noted that the disaster management agency said on Friday that two of the deaths were from smoke inhalation while the third person died after being hit by a collapsing wall.

Reuters has reported that over 76,000 people fled their homes and flights were grounded across the island after the volcanic eruption shot ash and sand into the air on Thursday evening.

“Based on verified data, over 76,000 people have been evacuated from five cities around the volcano … and about 200,000 people were affected,” National Disaster Mitigation Agency spokesman Sutopo Nugroho said via text message.

Several airports including Bandung, Yogyakarta, Solo, Malang and Semarang were closed due to the eruption.

Mount Kelud is a volcano located in East Java. It is known for large explosive eruptions that it has had throughout its history.

The ash reportedly reached the western region of Java.