Jakarta, 10 Mar (ONA) --- Mount Merapi on Indonesia's Java island ejected searing-hot, fast-moving clouds several times overnight, forcing hundreds of people to flee, the country's disaster management agency said today.

Abdul Muhari, a spokesman for the National Disaster Management Agency said that a mixture of hot lava, ash and gases known as pyroclastic flows travelled up to 5,000 metres on the south-east slope of the volcano.

Ash also rained down on several villages around the volcano, Muhari added. As many as 253 residents have sought refuge in safer locations.

The volcano's alert level remained at its second-highest, with a 5-km radius around Mount Merapi declared an exclusion zone.

Merapi, which has an elevation of 2,910 metres, has been erupted intermittently since 2000.

In its last deadly round of eruptions in 2010, more than 340 people were killed and 60,000 others were displaced.

---Ends/Thuraiya/AG