Volcano’s alert level raised to highest

? Indonesia today raised the alert at Mount Merapi volcano to the highest level, warning of an imminent eruption. The measure forced the immediate evacuation of thousands of people.

The 9,700-foot peak in densely populated Central Java province has been rumbling ominously in recent weeks and spewing clouds of black ash.

Bambang Dwiyanto, head of the region’s volcanology center, said the alert was raised because the flow of lava has been constant since Thursday.

Hundreds of people living on the slopes began to leave, said another government official, Imam Purwadi.

Many of those closest to the crater already had been evacuated, but thousands of residents from farther down the mountain had refused to leave.

Merapi last erupted in 1994, sending out a searing cloud of gas that burned 60 people to death. About 1,300 people were killed when it erupted in 1930.