Associated Press
 
Mount Merapi, Indonesia, May 24: Mount Merapi spit out lava and a spectacular series of hot clouds late on Tuesday, as Indonesian government observers warned that the volcano remained a danger to villagers living on its slopes.

One of the eruptions sent debris falling two miles down the mountain, said Safari Dwiyono, a vulcanologist at a monitoring post in the densely populated province of Central Java.

Residents in the danger zone had all been evacuated, he said, and there were no immediate reports of injuries.

Thousands of people from villages farther down the 9,800-foot volcano, however, have returned home in recent days to tend crops, milk cows and feed livestock — many complaining of boredom in government-run shelters.

But Mardiyanto, the Central Java provincial governor, said it was important they stay well away from the crater and authorities said they had no immediate plans to lift an evacuation order put in place last week.

Mount Merapi, which means "Fire Mountain," has erupted scores of times in the last 200 years, often with deadly results. It is one of the world's most active volcanoes.

In 1994, 60 people were killed by a searing gas cloud while in 1930, more than a dozen villages were incinerated, leaving 1,300 dead.

The volcano is 250 miles southeast of the capital, Jakarta.