Indonesian volcano Merapi blows its top

Indonesia's most active volcano erupted today, spewing sand and pyroclastic material and sending  smoke-and-ash column up to 6,000 meters into the sky.
The eruption of Mount Merapi on the main island of Java also unleashed searing gas clouds 2 kilometers  down its slopes, said Indonesia's Geology and Volcanology Research Agency on its website.
The agency said villagers living on Merapi's fertile slopes are advised to stay 3 kilometers from the crater's mouth as the ash made the rain thick and muddy in several villages.
Witnesses said the sound was heard 30 kilometers away. The agency did not raise the alert status of Merapi, which already was at the third-highest level due to its ongoing activity.
The 2,968-meter  mountain is the most active of 500 Indonesian volcanoes. The volcano has rumbled and generated dark hot clouds since last year. Its last major eruption in 2010 killed 353 people.-AP