Indonesia Eases Volcano Danger Zone, but Death Toll Reaches 250

Indonesian authorities have eased the danger zone around the explosive Mount Merapi volcano, even as the discovery of more victims has pushed the death toll to 250 people.

The area around the mountain in central Indonesia remained on “red alert” Sunday, and the volcano continued to let off blasts of hot gas clouds. But some of the 400,000 nearby residents who had fled the region over the last two weeks as the volcano erupted have started to return to their ash-covered villages.

Authorities cut the 20-kilometer danger zone in half in some areas surrounding the mountain, reflecting their feeling that those areas are now safer.

There have no major eruptions since November 5, the day volcano experts said the blasts were the biggest since the 1870s.

Returning residents found their homes and roads covered in a meter of gray ash. But some said they no longer wanted to stay in rescue shelters.

The devastation from the blasts is becoming apparent as rescue workers search the mountain slopes. Searchers found more bodies on Sunday.

Merapi is the most active volcano in Indonesia, a vast collection of islands that is prone to seismic activity because it sits along the “Ring of Fire,” a horseshoe-shaped string of faults that lines the Pacific Ocean.

Some information in this story was provided by AP and AFP.