Coughing Mount Merapi, which is located between Yogyakarta and Central Java Province, Indonesia, continued to spew hot clouds and glowing lava in the southerly direction toward Gendol River on Saturday.

"From the Babadan observation post, it was monitored that Mount Merapi expelled two hot clouds over a maximum distance of 1.5 kilometer in the wee hours on Saturday," Antara news agency quoted head of the Merapi Section of Yogyakarta's Volcanological and Technology Development Center (BPPTK) Subandriyo as saying.

Glowing lava was also expelled for 15 times stretching over a maximum distance of three kilometers toward Krasak River, and for 34 times sliding down the slope toward Gendol River over a distance one kilometer.

The Center's seismograph, however, recorded 38 hot clouds, 176 multiphase tremors, 304 trails, two shallow volcanic quakes, and five tectonic quakes during that morning.

The volcano also sent thick sulfurous gas 350 meters into the sky above the mountain's top with moderate pressure.

Just about 24 hours after downgrading the volcano's alert status, the authorities restored its highest caution' status on June 14, following expulsion of massive hot clouds stretching over a distance of seven kilometers and killing two persons.

The 2,965-meter-high Mount Merapi had erupted several times in the past, of which the most deadly took place in 1930 killing 1, 370 people. It also erupted in 1994, claiming the lives of at least 66 people.

Source: Xinhua