An Indonesian volcano erupted five times on Thursday, forcing rescuers to evacuate thousands of people and forcing authorities to close nearby airports and issue warnings of falling debris that could trigger a tsunami.

Mount Rouen’s caldera erupted four times on Wednesday, spewing lava amid a backdrop of lightning overnight and pushing ash plumes more than a mile into the sky, forcing authorities to raise the alert level to the highest level of the four-level system.

Taka, a local fisherman who only gave his first name, was at sea helping people escape in boats when a column of orange fire was released from the crater.

“Fire and rock were mixed together. Lava flowed in all directions,” he told AFP.

The volcano, located on a remote island in Indonesia’s outermost region, has a summit of 725 meters above sea level and was still sending out billowing plumes of smoke as high as 800 meters (2,625 feet) on Thursday morning, officials said.

Houses on the neighboring remote island of Tagulandang were riddled with holes Thursday after falling volcanic rocks, and residents were preparing to leave at least temporarily, rescuers said.

“The current situation, especially the condition of the roads, is covered with volcanic material,” local rescue worker Ikram Ulla told AFP by phone from Tagulandang seaport.

“Currently, many people are still wandering around, possibly trying to evacuate valuables from their homes.”

There were no reports of casualties, but authorities said they were evacuating more than 11,000 residents from the area around Tagulandang, which is home to about 20,000 people.

“People scattered”

According to officials, some residents have panicked and tried to flee.

“Due to the volcanic eruption and … small rocks falling, people evacuated without instructions,” local search and rescue agency official Jandry Paendong said in a statement on Thursday.

“People were scattering looking for evacuation routes.”

He said 20 workers were helping evacuate residents in rubber boats from the shoreline near the volcano.

Authorities also evacuated a prison on the island of Tagulandang, transporting 17 prisoners, along with 11 officials and 19 residents, by boat to the seaport of Likupang in northern Sulawesi, according to Ikram.

Rescuers said the warden requested the evacuation because the facility is located directly across from the volcano.

Visitors and residents are warned not to stay outside the six-kilometre exclusion zone.

More than 800 people were initially brought from Ruang to Tagulandang after the first eruption on Tuesday night, with four more eruptions on Wednesday prompting evacuations from the island.

tsunami warning

Authorities also warned that the eruption could trigger a tsunami.

Hendra Gunawan, head of the volcanology agency, said in a report: “The community of Tagulandang…(needs) to be prepared for the possible ejections of incandescent rocks and hot cloud emissions caused by the collapse of the volcano. and tsunami alert,” a statement said on Wednesday.

Past experience has heightened authorities’ concerns.

In 2018, the crater of Mount Anak Krakatoa, between Java and Sumatra, partially collapsed. The eruption caused a large piece of the volcano to slide into the ocean, triggering a tsunami that killed more than 400 people. Thousands were injured.

Indonesia is a vast archipelagic nation that experiences frequent earthquakes and volcanic activity due to its location on the Pacific “Ring of Fire,” an arc where tectonic plates collide that stretches across the Pacific basin from Japan to Southeast Asia.

The impact of the Rouen eruption caused the closure of Sam Ratulangi International Airport in the city of Manado, more than 100 kilometers (62 miles) from the volcano, for 24 hours until Thursday night and then extended to midnight.

Ambar Suryoko, director of the Manado Regional Airport Authority Office, said in a statement that the Manado runway was closed “due to the spread of volcanic ash that may endanger flight safety.”

The airport has airlines flying to Singapore as well as cities in South Korea and China.

Low-cost airline AirAsia has also canceled flights to and from nine airports in eastern Malaysia and Brunei until Friday morning due to the eruption of Ruang volcano, it wrote on social media platform X.

The volcano’s last major eruption in 2002 caused damage to nearby settlements and required residents to evacuate.

This time locals expressed their shock on social media.

A video posted shows multiple lightning bolts sending out large amounts of electricity as lava shoots into the air.

“Oh my God! Oh my God! Oh my God!” a man was heard saying.