Indonesia’s Merapi volcano erupted Saturday, spewing avalanches of searing gas clouds and hot lava down its slopes, forcing authorities to halt tourism and mining activities close to the country’s most active volcano. Mount Merapi on the densely populated island of Java, unleashed clouds of hot ash and fast-moving pyroclastic flows - a mixture of rock, lava and gas. It traveled up to seven kilometers (4.3 miles) down its slopes, and spewed a column of hot clouds rising 100 meters (yards) into the air with avalanches of incandescent lava from the crater at least nine times, said National Disaster Management Agency’s spokesperson Abdul Muhari.