"The Merapi death toll has reached 283 people. More than 270,000 people are still living in temporary shelters," disaster management official Ratnasari said, updating the previous toll of 275 dead.

"Some people under treatment have died and more bodies have been recovered from around the volcano," she said.

The government reduced the exclusion zone on Friday for the second time since last weekend because of the declining volatility of the volcano, enabling more refugees to return to their homes.

Ratnasari said they had updated the number of refugees from more than 300,000 people.

Merapi killed around 1,300 people in 1930 but experts say the current eruptions are its biggest convulsions since 1872.

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