Large eruptions of searing hot gas and debris led to the hasty evacuation of thousands of villagers from Mount Merapi’s slopes today – a day after they got the OK to go home – as authorities raised the volcano’s alert level to its highest status again.

Indonesia’s Mount Merapi has spewed more gas and clouds of hot ash down its slopes, prompting 15,000 villagers to run for their lives, some jumping into rivers to escape the searing heat.

Indonesian officials today evacuated 11,000 villagers from around Mount Merapi volcano, as lava and superheated clouds of gas poured repeatedly down its upper slopes.