Some 300 families have been evacuated from the slopes of a volcano on the northern Indonesian island of Siau, a day after authorities said an eruption could be imminent, reports said Sunday.
Authorities raised the alert on Saturday for Mount Karangetang, meaning they fear an eruption could soon take place, and advised that at least two villages be evacuated, Indonesia's volcanology office said on its website.
Other villages in the area were asked to remain on standby in case they need to leave their homes suddenly, it said.
The mountain spewed lava and hot volcanic debris as far as 2,000 metres (yards) down its slopes on Friday, the office said.
"The accumulation of lava at the southern slope has the potential to cause heat clouds," the office warned, referring to searing clouds of volcanic material that rush down the slopes, burning everything in their path.
Metro TV quoted a local police chief as saying that the 300 evacuated families were now sheltering at a village hall in eastern Siau.
Heat clouds emitted from the volcano killed three people when it last erupted in 1997. Five years earlier, seven people were killed in similar incidents.
Mount Karangetang's last major eruption in 1974 forced the total evacuation of Siau's population to a nearby island.
