Malaysian medical students from two universities in Indonesia today joined volunteers in assisting victims of the Gunung Merapi eruption.

NONE Thousands of people residing around the base of the 400,000-year- old volcano were still being accommodated at several evacuation centres to escape from the lava flow and volcanic dust emitted by the eruption.

The Malaysians from various races comprised 26 students from Universiti Negeri Surakarta (UNS) 11 Maret in Solo (central Java) and 14 from Universiti Gadjah Mada, Yogyakarta.

This morning, the Malaysian volunteers, collaborating with the Indonesian Red Crescent, visited several evacuation centres in the Sleman district, Yogyakarta.

NONE The students, who brought along food and medical supplies, also offered health examination services to the victims, most of whom had inhaled volcanic dust when the Gunung Merapi emitted burning lava and hot volcanic ash with a temperature of 600 degrees Celsius on Tuesday.

The director of the Malaysian Students Department in Indonesia, Junaidy Abu Bakar, said the Malaysian student volunteers had actually been mobilised on Tuesday itself but they were mostly helping in the efforts to evacuate Malaysian students from Magelang.

The Malaysian medical students from UNS 11 Maret led by the president of the National Association of Malaysian Students in Indonesia, Solo branch, Mohd Nazaluddin Mat Nazir, had provided considerable assistance in managing the evacuation of Malaysian students from the Sirojul Mukhlasin Religious School in Secang, Magelang to Solo.

NONE A visit by Bernama to the Universiti Surakarta (Unas) hostel in Solo found that the Malaysian students from the religious school were placed in comfortable rooms, under the supervision of the Malaysian student volunteers from the UNS 11 Maret.

The also carried out medical examinations on the students besides helping to cook for them.

One of the volunteers, Dr Muda Nabilah Rashid Redza, 25, from Air Molek, Malacca, was seen to examine the infant daughter of one of the students at the religious school, Nurul Najjah Zinnirah Humairah Mohd Azmi, seven months, who was having a fever.

- Bernama