Indonesian volcano eruption kills at least seven people

At least seven people died in an Indonesian village as a volcano erupted on the island of Sumatra on Saturday.

Mount Sinabung shot volcanic ash thousands of feet high, some of which also reached the village of Gamber more than two miles away, Indonesia’s National Disaster Management Agency told the Associated Press.

Many of those who died were working on their farms when the eruption took place. Two other people were taken to a hospital in critical condition.

A woman mourns over the coffin of a relative after a deadly eruption of Mount Sinabung, Indonesia May 22, 2016. Photo By Irsan Mulyad via Reuters

A Disaster Management Agency officials said disaster workers, police and soldiers combined rescue efforts to reach survivors near the volcano to no avail on the northwestern section of the island.

Photos and videos showed hot ash surging into the sky and smoke spewing out of the volcano, which made rescue operations difficult.

“It is not immediately clear how many people were in Gamber because when the mountain spewed clouds of hot ash, there was not supposed to be any activity in the area,” said National Disaster Mitigation Agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, in a statement on Sunday.

Mount Sinabung is 8,070 feet tall and one of the more active volcanoes among the 120 in Indonesia. An eruption from volcano in 2014 killed 12 people, according to Reuters.