A bomb-maker was killed by his own device as he tried to give Islamic school pupils a lesson in how to make explosives, it has emerged.

Villagers returned to their homes today along the fertile slopes of an Indonesian volcano that spewed hot ash and smoke after lying dormant for more than four centuries – catching scientists off guard.

Two strong earthquakes that struck eastern Indonesia overnight killed at least three people and injured 45 other people, a senior health ministry official said today.

US scientists have found what they believe are traces of the lost Indonesian civilisation of Tambora, which was wiped out in 1815 by the biggest volcanic eruption in recorded history.