Lava streams from crater as Indonesia’s Mount Merapi erupts

Indonesia’s most volatile volcano erupted Friday, releasing plumes of ash high into the air and sending streams of lava with searing gas clouds flowing down its slopes (Slamet Riyadi/AP)

Indonesia’s most volatile volcano erupted on Friday, releasing plumes of ash high into the air and sending streams of lava with searing gas clouds flowing down its slopes.

Clouds of hot ash shot 1,000 metres (3,280 feet) into the sky and an avalanche of lava and searing gas spilled down Mount Merapi’s trembling slopes up to three kilometres (1.8 miles) at least six times since the morning, said Hanik Humaida, the head of Yogyakarta’s Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation Centre.