16 Dead From Indonesia Volcano Blast

news.yahoo.com...

Mount Sinabung erupted again Saturday just a day after authorities allowed thousands of villagers who had been evacuated to return to its slopes, saying volcanice activity was decreasing. Rescuers found 14 bodies and rescued three people with burn wounds, said National Disaster Mitigation Agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho.

Among the dead were a local television journalist and four high-school students and their teacher who were visiting the mountain to see the eruptions up close, Nugroho said. At least three other people were injured and authorities fear the death toll will rise.

Authorities had evacuated more than 30,000 people because the Sinabung volcano had been erupting for more than four months in western Sumatra.
A series of huge blasts and eruptions roared from the volcano on Saturaday after the people were allowed to return to their homes.

SAD!!

This worries me about our friend, Silo, who brings us the amazing pictures of Mt. Etna to share with ATS in her thread.
Although this is a different volcano, I still fear that something like this could happen to her.
I appreciate her so much, but I want her to put her safety above everything else.

Read more from the source link.

OP, it's just not big enough news and it's Indonesia. The world could care less that a volcano erupted and 16 people died. Yet if it's the world's playground and several thousand are killed, they will pour hundreds of millions of dollars into the area so that it recovers quickly so they can get back to playing. Yet Indonesia still suffers and the world simply does no care.

pstrron
OP, it's just not big enough news and it's Indonesia. The world could care less that a volcano erupted and 16 people died. Yet if it's the world's playground and several thousand are killed, they will pour hundreds of millions of dollars into the area so that it recovers quickly so they can get back to playing. Yet Indonesia still suffers and the world simply does no care.

edit on 2/3/2014 by pstrron because: minor correction

What a shame! Yeah, that shows by the number of people visiting this thread.

Very sad.

Very dangerous. I would probably go to see it up close as well. It's a risk/reward situation... You roll the dice.

Among the dead were a local television journalist and four high-school students and their teacher who were visiting the mountain to see the eruptions up close

Actually, the truth appears to be that the dead were found inside the 5 km exclusion zone- the zone around the volcano defined by authorities as off limits. The concentrations of gas and heat are lethal in that radius. They played with fire and got killed instead of just burned. Who knows why they went back in- could have been to try and rescue people- or could have been because they just wanted to go home.

"For the safety of the rescuers we decided to temporarily halt the search operation at midday," local rescue agency chief Rochmali, who goes by one name, told AFP. There were no reports of new casualties from the latest eruption.

He added that rescuers had yet to see any signs of life during their search on Monday and did not believe anyone else was still missing.

However he said the team had found the wreckage of eight motorbikes believed to have been carrying 14 of those killed in Saturday's eruption.

The bikes were inside the five-kilometre (three-mile) danger zone, an area decreed by the authorities that was supposed to be off-limits, he added.

Rochmali said officials were considering a permanent halt to the search and would decide later Monday.

news.yahoo.com...

But regardless, this underscores the unpredictability of volcanoes. They can be very deceptive. In fact, a period of relative seismic silence often precedes eruptions- even after they have already been erupting.



And while it may appear that the world doesn't care to some- say that to the hundreds of scientists who have given of their own lives to go and help Indonesian scientists improve their monitoring networks and forecasting. In fact, it might be stated that the successful eruption forecasting and evacuation of Pinatubo in 1991- that otherwise might have taken thousands of lives- was a direct result of "the world" caring.

The lack of responses to a thread on an internet forum is no measure whatsoever of who cares.

Quote of the day... and it's still early in my time zone.

The lack of responses to a thread on an internet forum is no measure whatsoever of who cares.