Indonesia volcanic eruption kills 3 hikers, officials say

A sudden eruption at Indonesia’s Mount Dukono has killed three hikers, authorities said, turning a trek on Halmahera island into a deadly disaster.

The blast hurled an ash plume about 10km into the sky. Officials said no towns or villages were close enough to face an immediate danger.

Twenty hikers were on the volcano’s slopes when the eruption struck, a local police chief told reporters at a volcano monitoring station in Mamuya village.

He said nine were from Singapore and the others were Indonesian.

A tour guide who was on the mountain when the volcano erupted said he had arrived with a group yesterday and noticed Mount Dukono behaving “a bit strange”.

“This was the first time I’d seen it so quiet. I told the guests that a major eruption is going to happen because the volcano is accumulating pressure at the bottom of the crater. And my prediction turned out to be correct,” he said.

At the moment of the eruption, he said, two groups of tourists — about 15 people in total — were at the crater rim.

The guide said he was with two German hikers who “survived because we were in the safe radius”, adding that it was the largest eruption of Mount Dukono he had ever seen.

“Previously, when there was an eruption, there would be a single blast and then it was over. This time, the eruption started at 7.42 and by the time we came down the intensity was still the same, rocks were still coming out of the crater.”

The bodies of the three victims remained on the mountain.

“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,” the police chief said.

Several hikers suffered minor injuries and were taken to hospital for treatment.

The police chief added that the group’s guide and a porter had been taken to the police station and could face criminal charges for leading hikers into a prohibited area.

Since December, the Centre for Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation (PVMBG) has warned tourists and climbers to stay at least 4km away from the volcano’s Malupang Warirang Crater after scientists detected increased seismic activity.

Police said the hikers had ignored social media appeals as well as warning signs at the trail entrance telling visitors to keep away.

“Local residents understand and don’t want to climb. Many (hikers) are foreign tourists who wish to create (social media) content.”

The head of the government Geology Agency said the eruption came with a “booming sound” and sent a dense column of ash and smoke 10km above the summit of Mount Dukono.

“The direction of the ash distribution leans northward, so residential areas and Tobelo City need to be vigilant for… volcanic ash rain,” she said in a statement.

She added that the smoke could endanger public health and risk disrupting transportation services.

There are no settlements within a radius of about 9km of the volcano.

Indonesia, a sprawling archipelago, is regularly shaken by earthquakes and volcanic eruptions because it lies on the Pacific “Ring of Fire”, where tectonic plates meet.

The Southeast Asian nation has nearly 130 active volcanoes.

Mount Dukono is currently at level two on Indonesia’s four-tiered alert system.

“After this incident, we will be strictly monitoring posts that hikers can pass. So no hiking as long as the status remains at level 2,” the police chief said.