Indonesian volcanic eruption kills 77

INDONESIA’S most active volcano killed 77 people yesterday in its biggest eruption in over a century, incinerating homes, grounding flights and driving thousands into shelters.

Ash, deadly heat clouds and molten debris gushed from the mouth of Mount Merapi and shot high into the sky for most of the night and into the morning, triggering panic and chaos on the roads as people fled in the darkness.

The latest deaths bring the overall toll to 120 since the volcano started erupting on Java island on October 26, a day after a tsunami killed more than 400 people in a remote area off Sumatra island to the west.