Foreign Office warns tourists to ‘stay 7km away’ from no-go zone | Travel News | Travel

The UK Foreign Office has warned British tourists to avoid a no-go zone after a volcano erupted.

Mount Lewotobi Laki Laki on the Indonesian island of Flores shot billowing columns of ash 11 times on Thursday, with the latest and largest rising 8,000 metres (26,240 feet)

The 1,584-metre (5,197-foot) volcano had shown less activity since an eruption on Monday killed nine people and injured 64 others, with an exclusion zone now imposed by Indonesian authorities.

The Foreign Office warning states:  “FCDO advises against all travel to within 7km of the crater of Mount Lewotobi Laki-Laki on Flores Island, East Nusa Tenggara province.

“This is an exclusion zone put in place by the local authorities.  Mount Lewotobi Laki-Laki erupted on 3 November 2024.”

The eruption on Monday affected more than 10,000 people in 10 villages.

About 4,400 villagers moved into makeshift emergency shelters after the eruption, which destroyed seven schools, nearly two dozen houses and a convent on the majority-Catholic island.

On Monday, volcanic materials, including smouldering rocks, lava, hot, thumb-size gravel, and ash, were thrown up to seven kilometres (4.3 miles) from its crater.

While visiting the devastated areas, officials found craters where rocks fell during eruptions, up to 13 metres (43 feet) wide and five metres (16 feet) deep, in several places, including a destroyed school.

Indonesia, a country of around 280 million people, is home to 120 active volcanoes.  

The nation is prone to a range of natural disasters, including earthquakes, landslides and tsunamis, due to its position on the Pacific Ring of Fire, a horseshoe-shaped series of seismic fault lines around the Pacific Ocean.

Exclusion zones are also currently in place around several other volcanoes across the island nation, and the UK Foreign Office is also urging British tourists to avoid them.