New Volcanic Blast Sends Indonesians Fleeing

Indonesia's Mount Merapi erupted again today with its biggest blast yet, shooting searing ash miles into the sky and forcing hasty new evacuations of panicked people from villages and emergency shelters. Soldiers loaded men, women, and crying children into trucks as rocks and debris hurled through the air and down the mountain's slopes. No new casualties were reported immediately after the booming explosion that lasted more than an hour.

"This is an extraordinary eruption, triple from the first," said a state volcanologist. Tens of thousands of villagers have been evacuated from Mount Merapi, one of the most active volcanoes in the world, since it began erupting just over a week ago, killing 38 people, most from severe burns. The danger zone was widened today from six miles from the glowing crater to 9 miles because of the heightened threat. Click here for more.
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