Agency :
At least 16 people, including four schoolchildren, have been killed after they were engulfed by scorching ash clouds spat out by Indonesia’s Mount Sinabung.
The volcano started erupting in September, and officials say this is the biggest eruption in recent days.
A spokesman for the National Disaster Management Agency, Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, says the bodies were found in Sukameriah village, just 2.7 kilometres from the volcano’s crater.
Officials fear there could be more fatalities from the eruptions, but due to the high potential of lethal heat clouds spewing from the mountain, the search and rescue has been grounded.
“We suspect there are more victims but we cannot recover them because the victims are in the path of the hot (ash) clouds,” Nugroho said.
