Three hikers – two Singaporeans and a local – died in an eruption Friday of Indonesia’s Mount Dukono volcano where they found themselves in a no-go zone, officials said.
The eruption on Halmahera island sent an ash cloud about 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) into the air, with no towns of villages near enough to face any immediate threat.
Twenty hikers were on the slopes when disaster struck, North Halmahera police chief Erlichson Pasaribu told reporters at a volcano monitoring station in Mamuya village.
Nine were from Singapore and the rest Indonesian.
“To date, 15 climbers have safely descended,” Erlichson said several hours after the early-morning eruption.
The bodies of the deceased were still on the mountain, he added, without elaborating on the whereabouts of the last two hikers.
“Due to ongoing eruptions, the situation is still considered unsafe for evacuation. So, the joint team is still waiting for the right time to begin the search,” Erlichson said.
Some of the hikers had suffered minor injuries and were taken to hospital for treatment.
The group’s guide and a porter were taken to the police station and could face criminal charges for taking hikers into a prohibited area, added the police chief.
Since December, the Center for Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation (PVMBG) has warned tourists and climbers not to come within four kilometers (2.5 miles) of the volcano’s Malupang Warirang Crater after scientists spotted an uptick in seismic activity.
Source: Insider Paper
