Indonesia's Merapi volcano ejects towering column of ash: Planes told to avoid area

Jakarta: Indonesia's Mount Merapi has shot a towering plume of ash about six kilometers high in an eruption authorities said lasted two minutes.The National Disaster Mitigation Agency said on Friday the volcano's alert status, raised last month from the lowest level, is unchanged and a three-kilometers no-go zone around the crater remains in force.[caption id="attachment_4491197" align="alignleft" width="380"]

File image of Mount Merapi. AP[/caption]It said the eruption at 8.20 am caused no panic and nearby Adi Sucipto Yogyakarta International Airport is still open to flights.The mountain is about 30 kilometers from the center of Yogyakarta city on the densely populated island of Java. About a quarter million people live within a 10 kilometers radius of the volcano. Merapi's last major eruption in 2010 killed 347 people.