76: Thousands flee Sumatra volcano eruption in Indonesia

September 16, 2013 – INDONESIA – Mount Sinabung erupted violently before dawn, spewing rocks and red-hot ash onto surrounding villages. Asren Nasution, head of the North Sumatra disaster agency, said more than 3,000 people within a two-mile radius had been evacuated, with no casualties reported. They are being sheltered in five wooden halls used for religious ceremonies. Several flights at Kualanamu airport, some 30 miles away in Medan, have been delayed because of the ash. Indonesia has dozens of active volcanoes, more than any other country, and straddles major tectonic fault lines known as the “Ring of Fire” between the Pacific and Indian oceans. –Sky News

27 killed in mine collapse:  KABUL, AFGH. – A coal mine collapse has killed at least 27 miners in the north of Afghanistan, officials said Sunday, with rescue efforts under way to save about 12 workers trapped underground. Emergency teams rushed to the scene after the mine collapsed in a remote area of Samangan province on Saturday, and bodies were being brought out of the accident site. “We have 27 miners who died while they were working in an underground coal mine in Abkhorak coal mine in Ruyi Du Ab district,” Mohammad Sediq Azizi, the Samangan governor’s spokesman, told AFP. “They were working in a coal mine when part of the mine collapsed on them. We are heading to the scene for further investigation,” Azizi said, adding that 20 other people had been injured. Mosadiqullah Muzafari, Samangan’s deputy security chief, said four rescue workers were badly injured and about 12 miners were still stuck underground. – The Himalayan