Following the eruption of Indonesia’s Mount Semeru volcano, the death toll has risen to 13, officials said, while rescuers are still searching for the missing. 

On Sunday, a spokesman for Indonesia’s disaster mitigation agency (BNPB) said that only two of the 13 people killed by the eruption have been identified.

The spokesman, Abdul Muhari, revealed that at least 98 people have been injured, including two pregnant women, while 902 people have been evacuated from the villages surrounding Semeru in the East Java Province.

Rescuers were still searching along a river in Curah Kobokan village for citizens that were reported missing. 

On Saturday, the volcano on Indonesia's most densely populated island of Java erupted, blasting ash columns more than 12 kilometers (7.5 miles) into the sky and hurling scorching gas and lava down its slopes.

As a result of the eruption, several villages in the Lumajang district in East Java Province were covered with ash.

What triggered the eruption? 

According to Eko Budi Lelono, the geological survey center's director, the unexpected eruption was triggered by a thunderstorm and days of heavy rains.

According to him, rains eroded and eventually toppled the lava dome atop the 3,676-meter (12,060-foot) Semeru.

People should stay 5 kilometers (3.1 miles) away from the crater's mouth, according to the BNPB.

"Thick columns of ash have turned several villages to darkness," said Thoriqul Haq of the Lumajang district, adding that a power outage in the area was delaying evacuation operations.

Haq added that the debris and lava mixed with rainfall to form thick mud that destroyed the main bridge connecting Lumajang and the neighboring district of Malang.

Since its latest significant eruption in December 2020, which drove thousands of people to escape and buried communities in ash, Semeru's alert status has remained at its second-highest level.

There were no casualties at that time.