The only sign of life in one man, who's eyes were milky gray in color and never blinked, was the shallow rising and falling of his chest. Others, their lungs choked with abrasive volcanic ash, struggled to breathe.
Indonesia's most volatile mountain unleashed a surge of searing gas, rocks and debris yesterday that raced down its slopes at highway speeds, torching houses and trees and incinerating villagers caught in its path.
With more than 90 killed, many of them after succumbing to their injuries, it was Merapi's deadliest day in decades, but Sigit Priohutomo, who works at Sardjito hospital, predicted the toll would rise.
With nearby airports closed because of poor visibility, ventilators needed for burn victims were stuck in the capital, Jakarta, he said. In meantime, nursing students were using emergency respirators pumped by hand.
The volcano, in the heart of densely populated Java island, has erupted many times in the last two centuries, but many people choose to live on its rolling slopes, drawn to soil made fertile by molten lava and volcanic debris.
In recent days, however, more than 200,000 people have crammed into emergency shelters in the shadows of the volcano, which continued to rumble and groan Saturday. At times it spit gray clouds of ash and gas up to eight-kilometers high.
"It's scary. ... The eruption just keeps going on," said Wajiman, 58, who was sitting in a shelter near a girl reading a newspaper headlined "Merapi isn't finished yet."
Crammed together on muddy floors, flies landing on the faces of sleeping refugees, many complained of poor sanitation, saying there were not enough toilets or clean drinking water.