YOGYAKARTA, Indonesia, Aug. 7 (UPI) -- Indonesian authorities on Monday lowered the danger status of the simmering Mount Merapi volcano from alert to watch, the Antara news agency reported.
Volcanologists said the decision was made as the volcano hasn't produced 5-mile high heat clouds in the past three weeks and much less lava has sputtered out in the past several days. There were also far fewer tectonic quakes, the scientists said.
Since May 13, the 9,700-foot volcano on the island of Java has been under caution status due to its activity.
Meanwhile, the report said two monitoring volunteers were killed by extreme heat inside a bunker at a village near Merapi's crater where they had been taking shelter for two days to avoid the volcano's hot clouds.
Merapi's most deadly eruption took place in 1930 when 1,370 people were killed. In 1994, an eruption killed at least 66 people.
