Eruptions at Indonesia’s deadly volcano

Eruptions at Indonesia’s deadly volcano appeared to be intensifying Thursday as towering clouds of ash shot from the crater with a thunder-like roar, dusting towns up to 150 miles (250 kilometers) away and forcing motorists to switch on their headlights during the day.

The death toll climbed to 44 – with six more lives recorded in the last 24 hours – and the government repeated orders to airlines to stay clear of the unpredictable mountain.

Mount Merapi, which means “Fire Mountain,” is one of the world’s most active volcanoes.

But even those who have dedicated a lifetime to studying it have been baffled by its erratic behavior since its first Oct. 26 eruption, which has been followed by more than a dozen other powerful blasts and thousands of volcanic tremors.

They’d earlier hoped that would result in a long, slow release of energy.

“But we have no idea what to expect now,” said Surono, a state volcanologist, adding that he has never seen the needle on Merapi’s seismograph working with such intensity.

The fear is that a new lava dome forming in the mouth of the crater will collapse, triggering a deadly surge of 600 degree Fahrenheit (1,000 Celsius) ash and gas – known to experts as pyroclastic flows – at speeds of 60 miles per hour (100 kilometers per hour). (AP)