A renewed eruption of the Semeru volcano in Indonesia made the search for survivors difficult on Monday.

Some of the emergency services had to withdraw when the volcano spat out ashes again.

"There was a small new eruption that could endanger the evacuation teams," said helper Rizal Purnama.

On Saturday, around a dozen villages on the island of Java were shrouded in ashes when the volcano erupted for the first time.

Red lava flowed down Java's highest mountain at 3,676 meters.

Thousands of residents fled.

At least 15 people were killed in the volcanic eruption and dozen more were injured.

According to the latest information from the civil protection agency, 27 people are still missing.

Indonesia has around 130 active volcanoes.

The Southeast Asian island state is located on the so-called Pacific Ring of Fire.

Several tectonic plates collide there, so that earthquakes and volcanic eruptions occur particularly frequently.

At the end of 2018, a volcano erupted in a strait between the islands of Java and Sumatra and triggered an underwater landslide and tsunami.

More than 400 people were killed.