Boyolali, C Java (ANTARA News) - At least 13 junior high school students in Tlogolele village, Selo subdistrict, Boyolali district, Central Java, should be evacuated due to the Mount Merapi`s cold lava floods, a school principal said.

Those students need to be moved to a house near their school because a dam control of Apu river in the village had collapsed due to the volcano`s cold lava floods, SMPN 2 Principal Sumarmo said here Wednesday.

Sumarmo said he would have encouraged the students` parents to allow them to stay at their teachers` houses near the school following the broken dam control that paralyzed access roads to Tlogolele village.

Since the collapse of Apu river`s control dam last Monday afternoon, the students got difficulties in crossing the river for going to school, he said.

"Despite that difficult situation, his students still went to school on Tuesday but they were late because they should cross the river. This situation is very dangerous for them," he said.

As a result of the collapsed dam control, Tlogolele village was practically isolated, he added.

The Mount Merapi`s cold lava floods had paralyzed access roads of certain parts of Boyolali district.

The floods had ever disrupted the access roads linking Jarak Kidul hamlet and Sepi hamlet in Jrakah village, Selo subdistrict, Central Java district of Boyolali recently.

Last December, Mount Merapi`s cold lava floods also paralyzed access roads to Tlogolele village, Selo subdistrict, Boyolali district.

Mount Merapi had erupted repeatedly in the past two or three weeks but its most fatal eruptions occurred on October 26 and November 5.

As a result of the eruptions, at least 259 people had perished and many others sustained serious burns and became displaced.

Mount Merapi, on the border between two provinces, lies geographically close to Yogyakarta but is officially part of Central Java.

The volcano`s eruptions spewed hot clouds of ash and lava into the air and sent lava down its many slopes.

Besides killing and injuring several hundred people, eruptions had also damaged 867 hectares of forested land on the volcano`s slopes in Sleman District, Yogyakarta, with material losses estimated at Rp33 billion.

The damaged forested areas included the Merapi National Park, community forests and local people`s plantations.

Mount Merapi is one of the most active volcanoes in Indonesia, whose eruptions have regularly been detected since 1548. (*)

Editor: Ruslan Burhani
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