20,000 evacuated as volcano threat rises to highest in Indonesia

About 12,000 people from villages on the mountainside of Mount. Sinabung volcano in North Sumatra have fled homes since Sunday, bringing the total internally displaced persons to nearly 20,000 as the volcano erupted again, officials said on Monday. Bowo Asa, senior official at the disaster management and mitigation agency at North Sumatra, told Xinhua over phone that about 12,000 people living in more than 10 villages had been evacuated since Sunday to government camps, while more than 6,000 others fled to the shelters previously. The 2,475-meter high Mount Sinabung belched a column of dark ash 1,500 meters high on Sunday, leading the authorities to step up the alert status to the highest, Surono, head of national volcanology agency, said. "Hot ash spreads 1,000 meters toward southeast of the crater," he told Xinhua via phone. That led the agency extend the evacuation zone to 5 kilometers from the fiery crater, from 3 kilometers earlier, said Surono. Indonesia has issued a warning to international and domestic flights to reroute pathway near Mount. Sinabung since the volcano erupted on Nov. 18, the biggest eruption since the volcano first rumbled back to life in September after being dormant for three years. Mount. Sinabung has erupted intermittently since then. Transport Ministry Spokesman Bambang Ervan had earlier said the volcanic ash of the volcano was found by up to 25,000 meters high into the air, endangering flights. Indonesia, a vast archipelago country with 17,500 islands, is home to 129 active volcanoes and sits on a vulnerable quake-hit zone known as the "Pacific Ring of Fire."