A remote volcano in Indonesia spewed a cloud of ash into the sky on Friday. Earlier this week, the volcano erupted nearly six times, raining lava down on their villages and forcing thousands to evacuate.

Mount Luang, located in the outermost region of Indonesia’s North Sulawesi island, began erupting late Tuesday, triggering a spectacular mix of orange lava, towering ash columns and volcanic lightning.

On Friday morning, officials said Ruang had calmed down, but started spewing ash again hours later after authorities maintained the highest alert level and told residents to stay away from a six-kilometer (four-mile) exclusion zone.

“I was very surprised that the mountain erupted again. We were scared,” said Riko, a 30-year-old resident of neighboring Tagulandang Island.

The country’s volcano agency said the eruption spewed plumes of smoke 400 meters (1,312 feet) above the summit.

“An eruption occurred at Mount Luang in North Sulawesi province” at 1706 local time (0906 GMT), it said in a statement.

“The ash column was observed to be gray in color…sloping to the south.”

Hundreds of locals on the nearby island of Tagulandang worked with the help of soldiers and police to clear volcanic material from the harbor and yards on Friday morning, AFP reporters reported.

Some described their panic and rush for safety when the volcano erupted days ago.

Ninice Hoata, a 59-year-old teacher, told AFP: “I evacuated. There was a house there. I stayed there. Then it rained and rocks fell. I prayed: ‘God have mercy, Please help me’.” Tagulandang.

Other residents asked for more aid and expressed concern that the volcano would erupt again before it erupted.

“We really need tarp assistance as soon as possible to temporarily cover the leaking roof,” said Herman Sahoa, 64.

“We are worried about a follow-up (eruption) because there is information about it.”

The volcanology agency earlier warned in a statement that volcanic activity in Rouen “remains high” and there were potential dangers such as flying rocks, hot clouds and lava flows.

It recommends that all residents wear masks to prevent respiratory illnesses.

Thousands evacuated

Elsewhere homes could be seen empty and parts of the island were without power ahead of Friday’s eruption.

Communications were disrupted in parts of Ruang and Tagulandang, home to about 20,000 people, officials said Thursday.

Sahid Samihing, 53, a resident of Tagulandang, said he was worried that the volcanic rocks on his roof would destroy his belongings.

“If it wasn’t built on, the house would be destroyed,” the father of three said.

“It’s scary. There’s no one who isn’t scared. Everybody is scared. I’ve experienced this first hand.”

More than 6,000 residents of Tagulandang have been evacuated to the other side of the island, away from the crater, Joikson Sagunde, an official with the Tarot Islands disaster management agency, told AFP.

There were no reports of casualties, but authorities said a day earlier that they hoped to evacuate 11,000 people from the restricted area.

An AFP reporter said some of those affected were sheltering in makeshift shelters in churches and school buildings.

The closure of the international airport near the city of Manado, more than 100 kilometers (62 miles) from the crater, was also extended to Friday night.

The alert level maintains an exclusion zone around the crater and warns of possible tsunamis from further eruptions and the collapse of parts of the volcano into the sea.

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.

The last major eruption on Mount Ruang was in 2002, when residents were forced to evacuate.

Indonesia is a vast archipelago country with frequent earthquakes and volcanic activity due to its location on the Pacific “Ring of Fire.”

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)