Three hikers killed in Indonesia volcanic eruption

Rescue workers stand by after the volcanic eruption of Mount Dukono in North Halmahera, North Maluku. Picture: Handout / National Search and Rescue Agency (BASARNAS) / AFP 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 kilometres (6.2 miles) into the air, with no towns or 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. He said nine were from Singapore and the rest Indonesian. As of Friday evening, 17 climbers — seven of them foreigners — have been found alive, according to the head of local rescue agency Iwan Ramdani.

Rescue efforts have been paused and will resume Saturday, he said. Tour guide Alex Djangu, who was on the slopes when the eruption happened, said he arrived with a tour group on Thursday and found the volcano acting “a bit strange”. “This was the first time I’d seen it so quiet,” he said by telephone from his hotel not far from the volcano.

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“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.” When the eruption happened, there were two groups of tourists, about 15 in total, at the crater rim, the 48-year-old recounted. “I panicked, I thought they had all died, but it turned out that in the end only three died,” the tour guide added.

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