JAKARTA, Sept. 25 (Xinhua) -- Indonesia's national disaster management agency has urged thousands of people who remain in dangerous zone in the resort island of Bali to immediately escape, as a volcano in the island could erupt at any time, a senior official of the agency said here on Monday.
Gunung Agung volcano in Karang Asem district is in the highest alert following rising seismic activity, forcing over 48,000 villagers living in the dangerous zone to flee, spokesman of the agency Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said.
The spokesman said there are thousands of villagers remaining in the evacuation zone now.
"It is estimated about 62,000 people living in the dangerous zone," he said.
"The officials keep combing the area and ask the villagers there to escape the territory and take shelters in safer ground," Sutopo said.
Volcanologists have twice extended the no-go zone to 12 km for the areas in the north, northeast, southeast, south and southwest of the crater and 9 km for the other areas from 7.5 km.
"Based on all observations, the potential of eruption of the volcano is high," said Sutopo.
Indonesia, an archipelagic nation, is home to over 17,500 islands and a total of 129 active volcanoes.
