Jakarta (ANTARA News) - The Sileri Crater tourist destination in the Dieng Plateau in Central Java has been closed for public after it erupted on Sunday.

"No one was killed," the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) head of public relations, Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, said in a press release.

According to temporary report from the BNPB office in Banjarnegara 17 people were visiting the crater when it erupted and four of them had been wounded.

The Sileri Crater erupted at around 12.00 hours on Sunday spewing cold lava, mud and smoke up to 50 meter high to affect visitors in the area.

The phreatic eruption happened due to gas pressure below the surface.

Sutopo said emergency workers from the local BNPB office Banjarnegara district, the army, the police and other volunteers have been in the location to provide help.

Visitors have been ordered to leave the area as after eruption may possibly occur.

"Sileri Crater is one of the tourist objects in Dieng Plateau. It has a unique form which is flat and round with its boiling surface water keeps flowing to lower areas," he said.

With the surface water of up to four hectares the activity of the crater is quite high and it has erupted several times to make it the most dangerous crater in Dieng.

He said Sileri Crater is the most active and has erupted several times - 1939, 1944, 1964, 1984, 2003 and 2009.

"Until now Mount Dieng is still put at a normal active level. Its status has not been raised despite its activity and eruption this afternoon," he said. (*)

Editor: Heru Purwanto
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