Indonesia volcano erupts again

Mount Merapi releases lava for the first time since its latest round of activity began earlier this week.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

Jakarta, Indonesia (CNN) -- Indonesia's Mount Merapi started spewing hot ash clouds Monday morning, sending a 1.5-kilometer plume toward the south.

Volcanic ash also blew eastward toward Boyolali, Central Java, said Kurniadi of the Indonesian Volcanology and Geological Disaster Monitoring staff. Kurniadi goes by one name, as many Indonesians do.

Residents on the volcano started fleeing yet again. Many had returned to their homes to check on them as well as their farm animals after eruptions last week.

Mount Merapi began erupting Tuesday and has killed at least 39 people in the past week. Another 74 have been injured and more than 71,000 people have been evacuated, according to the National Disaster Management Board.

The 3,000-meter Merapi is famously unpredictable. An eruption killed two people in 2006 and another killed more than 60 villagers in 1994. About 1,300 people died when Merapi erupted in 1930.

Also last week, a 7.7-magnitude earthquake hit Indonesia's coast, triggering a tsunami and killing at least 449. Hundreds more were injured.

(www.cnn.com)