Red hot rocks hurled from Anak Krakatau reach 2.5 km high

The red hot glowing rocks spewed by Mt Anak Krakatau (GAK) in the Sunda Strait, Lampung province, on Sunday at 8.30 p.m had reached an altitude of up to 2.5 km, posing a potential threat to fishermen or other people getting close to the volcano.

Head of the monitoring post of Mt GAK in Pasuruan village, Cinangka subdistrict, Serang regency, Anton Tripambudi, said that the red hot rocks reaching an altitude of 2.5 km constitute a potential serious danger to fishermen and visitors trying to get near the volcano.

It could be clearly seen from Sertung and Rakata islands that each of the eruptions had a deafening sound and smoke belowing to 2,000 meters high.

He therefore told fishermen and other people to stay away from the volcano especially that the third-level alert status of the volcano is still effective.

The temperature of the red hot rocks hurled by the volcano may reach as high as 1,500 degres centrigrade, and would cause immediate death to those hit them them, he said.

Anton said that the volcanic tremors of the volcano still continued with an shortest intervals of 3 to 6 minute, and the longest 10 to 16 minutes apart.

In the last three days, the frequency of the volcanic tremors of Anak Krakatau reached 700 to 900 times per day, while the frequency was only 600 times per day.(*)