3 dead, flights disrupted as Indonesia volcano erupts

BLITAR (Indonesia), Feb 14 (AFP): A spectacular volcanic eruption in Indonesia killed three people and forced mass evacuations, disrupting long-haul flights and closing international airports Friday.
Mount Kelud, considered one of the most dangerous volcanoes on the main island of Java, spewed red-hot ash and rocks high into the air late Thursday night just hours after its alert status was raised.
Villagers in eastern Java described the terror of volcanic materials raining down on their homes, while AFP correspondents at the scene saw residents covered in grey dust fleeing in cars and on motorbikes towards evacuation centres.
Sunar, a 60-year-old from a village eight kilometres (five miles) in Blitar district, said his home also collapsed after being hit with "rocks the size of fists".
"The whole place was shaking -- it was like we were on a ship in high seas. We fled and could see lava in the distance flowing into a river," said Sunar, who goes by one name.
A man and a woman, both elderly, were crushed to death after volcanic material that had blanketed rooftops caused their homes in the sub-district of Malang to cave in, National Disaster Mitigation Agency Spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said, while another elderly man died from inhaling the ash.

Dian Julihadi, 32, from Blitar district, said: "It was like fireworks. There was a loud bang and bright red lights shot up into the air."
Nugroho confirmed the materials were still raining down on villages within a radius of 15 kilometres from the volcano on Friday, but said that some activities were resuming "as normal".
Some 200,000 people were ordered to evacuate, though some families ignored the orders and others have returned home, with just over 75,000 now in temporary shelters, Nugroho said.
Several men who had earlier tried to return home to gather clothing and valuables -were forced back by the continuous downpour of volcanic materials.