"We are now sheltering some 5,200 people as of this morning and hundreds more are still expected to arrive," said Dominikus Pareira, secretary of the Sikka district in the eastern island of Flores.

Speaking from the district capital of Maumere, he said the refugees had been evacuated from the slopes of the 1,703-meter (5,620-foot) Egon volcano, some 25 kilometers east, which had begun to smoke Thursday morning.

"The smoke continues to come out of the crater and the foul stench of sulphur is very strong on the slope of Mount Egon," Pareira said.

He said that he still expected between 800 and 900 other people to be evacuated from the four villages on the southern slope of the volcano.

Pareira said a team of vulcanologists had climbed the mountain from the southern slope while a district team was climbing from the north and that a decision on the danger posed by the volcano could be made before the end of the day.

The refugees were sheltering in several public buildings and schools in Maumere and about 10 tonnes of rice as well as water tank trucks were expected to arrive from the provincial capital of Kupang on Timor island later on Sunday.

The Indonesian archipelago sits on the so-called "Pacific Rim of Fire" noted for its volcanic and seismic activity.

TERRA.WIRE