Volcano rumbles to life and blasts out lava

INDONESIA’S Anak Krakatau volcano lets out a roar as it blasts a gigantic cloud of smoke and flaming red rocks hundreds of metres into the night sky.

A few hours later, a river of lava and stones glide down the volcano slopes.

The volcano’s name means Child of Krakatau, formed in the Sunda Strait close to Java island after Mount Krakatau’s legendary eruption in 1883. It rumbled to life about two weeks ago and since then has been dazzling scientists and visitors with its pyrotechnics.

Scientists monitoring the volcano say it is not especially dangerous and will continue to rumble for some time, but warn people to stay out of a 1.9 mile zone around the mountain.

Saut Simatupang, head of volcano observation in Bandung, said: “It is still at the third level of alert. It is safe and there aren’t any problems. There were approximately one hundred explosions yesterday.”

Chad Bouchard, one of eight tourists who spent the night in a boat in the ocean to watch the volcano said: “We are a little worried sometimes when we heard the big boom and we see rocks that fall from, I don’t know, half kilometre from the hole.”

Anak Krakatau, which lies 26 miles from the nearest observation post in Serang on the western-most edge of Java, gradually formed after the volcanic island of Krakatau blew up in a massive eruption in 1883, triggering tsunamis and killing more than 36,000.

Child of Krakatau is one of the most dangerous volcanoes in the Pacific Ring of Fire.