Hot cloud of volcanic materials run down the slope of Mount Merapi during an eruption in Sleman, Wednesday, Jan. 27, 2021. (AP)

It was the Mount Merapi’s longest lava flow since authorities raised the volatile volcano's danger level in November, said Hanik Humaida, the head of Yogyakarta’s Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation Center. 

The alert level was being maintained for now at the second-highest level, she said, and people should stay out of the existing 5-kilometer (3-mile) danger zone around the crater as the local administrations in Central Java and Yogyakarta provinces closely monitor the situation.

The 2,968-meter (9,737-foot) volcano is on the densely populated island of Java and near the ancient city of Yogyakarta. It is the most active of dozens of Indonesian volcanoes and has repeatedly erupted with lava and gas clouds recently.

Merapi's last major eruption in 2010 killed 347 people.

alarabiya.net