2nd LD: Indonesia evacuates foreign tourists after volcano erupts

Soldiers, police and other local authorities have evacuated over 100 foreign and domestic visitors, and are searching for hundreds others after a volcano erupts in West Nusa Tenggara province of central Indonesia, spokesman of disaster agency said on Wednesday.

At least 106 holiday makers, comprising 65 foreign tourists and 41 domestic visitors have been exited from dangerous zones, Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, spokesman of the national disaster agency told Xinhua via phone.

Still, he said the number of evacuated tourists may exceed the figure as some other visitors have also escaped the zone from another gate, which is not recorded.

Search for the visitors remaining in evacuated zone is underway, Sutopo said.

Mount Barujari, child of Mount Rinjani, spewed a column of massive ash by up to 2 km to the sky on Tuesday, the agency said.

A radius of 3-km from the crater has been declared as the dangerous zone, according to the spokesman.

A total of 1,023 foreign holiday makers and 56 domestic visitors were visiting the volcano when the eruption took place, Sutopo said.

On Sunday, a total of 1,113 tourists were forced to leave the zone, but some others rejected to escape the area, Sutopo added.

"Scores of holiday makers are reluctant to leave the zones. They knew it is dangerous but they insisted to stay as they wanted to film the eruption," he added.

Communities have been warned to be alert as the local authorities are preparing more than 300,000 masks, according to Sutopo.

Indonesia, an archipelago country home to over 17,500 islands, has 129 active volcanoes. Enditem