MOUNT MERAPI (Indonesia), May 14: Thousands of people fled the slopes of one of Indonesia’s most dangerous volcanoes on Sunday as its crater spewed blazing lava and deadly heat clouds but many villagers in the danger zone disobeyed orders to leave.

Officials in one district alone relocated more than 5,000 people from villages near the boiling crater to dozens of temporary shelters after Mount Merapi sent two massive heat clouds swirling two kilometres down its northwestern slopes.

In Sleman district as of midday officials had transported 5,093 people from seven villages to shelters, said Ani, of the district evacuation agency.

In Magelang district “there is no panic but the evacuation is still ongoing. We are intensifying efforts because there are a lot of residents that need to be evacuated,” said Edy Susanto, head of the district evacuation team.

Susanto said officials and volunteers had taken “more than 50 per cent” of residents from 11 villages deemed to be at immediate risk of the heat clouds and moved them to safer ground.

All the villages, Susanto said, were “located very near Merapi and we fear that the head clouds” could reach the area.

“There are a lot of people who need to be evacuated, including babies, pregnant women and elderly. It’s not easy to perform an evacuation but this is something that we continue doing,” he said.

No immediate figure was available for the number of residents still to be moved in Magelang or Sleman. But Vice-President Yusuf Kalla said on Thursday around 34,000 people living below Merapi’s crater should be evacuated.

Susanto estimated that about 17,000 people from 21 villages across Magelang could be in danger from Merapi’s lava flows, but said only 11 of the villages needed immediate evacuation.—AFP