Mount Sinabung erupted again Saturday just a day after authorities allowed thousands of villagers who had been evacuated to return to its slopes, saying volcanic activity was decreasing. Rescuers found 14 bodies and rescued three people with burns.
Sinabung in western Sumatra has been erupting for four months.Authorities had evacuated more than 30,000 people, housing them in cramped tents, schools and public buildings, but many were desperate to return to check on homes and farms.
On Saturday, a series of huge blasts and eruptions thundered from the 2,600-metre volcano. Television footage showed villages, farms and trees covered in thick grey ash.
The death toll from an Indonesian volcano that has been rumbling for months rose to 16 on Sunday after rescuers found another charred corpse and a critically injured college student died in a hospital
Indonesia is prone to seismic upheaval due to its location on the Pacific "ring of fire," an arc of volcanoes and fault lines encircling the Pacific basin. Mount Sinabung is among about 130 active volcanoes in Indonesia and has sporadically erupted since September.