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Volcano eruption kills 91 in Indonesia

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A volcano in Central Java of Indonesia re-erupted earlier Friday, the biggest since Oct. 26, killing at least 54 people and injuring seriously 66 others, bringing the total fatality to 91, over 1.3 million people to seek shelters, officials said.

Photo taken on Nov. 5, 2010 shows a hand of a victim in Volcano Merapi's latest re-eruption at Dr. Sardjito Hospital in Yogyagarta, Central Java of Indonesia. ([hang Yuwei/Xinhua]

Mount Merapi of 2,968 meters high, erupted again for three hours, starting from at about 12:00 a.m. Jakarta time Friday (1700 GMT Thursday), unleashing continuously hot ash by up to 8 km high and spreading to all direction, ash reached 45 km away, and leading the authorities to extend evacuation zone to 20 km, Volcanology Agency official in Yogyakarta Kurniati Rinekso said.

Authorities have closed the main airport of Adi Sucipto in Yogyakarta province, one of the busiest airport in the country, since 06:00 a.m. Jakarta time Friday, (2300 GMT Thursday) as ash still covers the airport, spokesman of Transport Ministry Bambang Ervan told Xinhua.

Yogyakarta city and Sleman district were hit by ash disturbing feasibility.

Spokesperson of the national Disaster and Mitigation Management Agency Nelis Zuliasri told Xinhua that there were 1,298,406 people stay in the radius of 20 km and they must leave the area.

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