At least seven times on Thursday, just before and after midnight, the volcano on the densely populated island of Java released clouds of hot ash.

Mount Merapi in Indonesia erupted and spewed hot clouds, leaving a blanket of ash over nearby villages and towns, forcing about 250 residents to flee.

Abdul Muhari, the spokesman for the National Disaster Mitigation Agency, stated that pyroclastic flows, a mixture of rock, lava, and gas, traveled up to 5 kilometers down its slopes.

The sound could be heard from many miles away.

Several nearby villages and towns were covered in volcanic ash, but no casualties were reported, according to Mr. Muhari. However, 253 people were evacuated to temporary shelters.

Indonesia’s Geology and Volcanology Research Agency advised residents living on Merapi’s fertile slopes to stay 6.5 kilometers away from the mouth of the crater and to be aware of the dangers posed by lava.

Mount Merapi is the most active of Indonesia’s more than 120 active volcanoes and has recently erupted repeatedly with lava and gas clouds.

The last major eruption of the volcano occurred in 2010 and resulted in the evacuation of 20,000 villagers.

The Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation Centre did not increase Merapi’s alert status, which has been at the second-highest of four levels since November when it began erupting.

The 9,737ft peak is located close to Yogyakarta, an ancient metropolis with several hundred thousand inhabitants and a large metropolitan area.

Indonesia, a 270-million-person archipelago, is prone to earthquakes and volcanic activity due to its location along the Pacific Ocean’s Ring of Fire, a horseshoe-shaped series of seismic fault lines.

Its last major eruption occurred in December, when Mount Semeru, the highest volcano on Java, erupted violently, killing 48 people and leaving 36 others missing in villages buried by mud.

The eruption damaged 5,200 homes and other structures.