Indonesian volcano forces locals to shelter in schools

Dali Ahmad, an Indonesian volcanologist, said by telephone that there did not appear to be a danger of a major eruption by Mount Karangetan at the moment but the lava continued to threaten nearby villages.

There have been no reports of casualties so far from the volcano on Siau island, which lies north of Manado on Sulawesi island, 2,200 km (1,365 miles) northeast of the capital Jakarta. "It is true that lava is flowing but it is not as strong as yesterday and only flowed 2 km (1.2 miles). But there is no buffer," Ahmad said by telephone from the Centre of Volcanology and Geological Disaster Mitigation in Bandung.

He said the alert status on the mountain was still at maximum.

A health ministry official said that 3,491 people or 891 families had fled the area close to the volcano, although he said data was only for the eastern part of the remote island where the volcano is situated.

"Refugees are staying at schools and churches. There are flows of lava and it is raining down," Rustam Pakaya said. Indonesia is predominantly Muslim, but there are also large numbers of Christians in some areas.