Lumajang, E Java, April 14 -- Mount Semeru in East Java erupted Tuesday morning, sending pyroclastic flows up to 3 kilometers.

"An eruption occurred at 5:22 a.m. local time, with an ash column rising around 1,500 meters above the peak, or 5,176 meters above sea level," Mount Semeru Observation Post officer Sigit Rian Alfian said in a statement.

A thick gray ash column drifted westward. The eruption was recorded on a seismograph with a maximum amplitude of 20 mm and lasted three minutes and 23 seconds.

"The eruption was accompanied by pyroclastic flows traveling three kilometers toward the southeast, or the Besuk Kobokan area," he said.

The flows did not reach residential areas as the affected zone is designated a red zone. Authorities...