An unexpectedly large explosive eruption from one of the largest Indonesia volcanoes has ended killing over a dozen people after pyroclastic flows roared down the mountain's slopes. Located on the Indonesia island of Java, Semeru has been erupting for almost 8 years now, but on December 4 the volcano unleashed a blast that reached over 50,000 feet (15 kilometers) when the lava dome at the summit likely collapsed due to heavy rains. Some of the footage from the minutes after the eruption are truly startling as people raced to escape the hot ash flows.
This eruption appears to come out of nowhere according to Indonesian officials. Although the volcano has been erupting off and on since 2014, Semeru had not been showing sharp increases in earthquakes that usually accompany new magma and eruptions. However, the heavy rains falling on the precarious lava dome at the summit likely caused the dome ...
