JAKARTA – Indonesian rescuers retrieved on Saturday the body of one of three hikers killed in a volcanic eruption in a seismically active no-go zone, a rescue official said.
Mount Dukono on Halmahera Island erupted on Friday, sending an ash cloud 10 kilometres into the sky, with no towns or villages near enough to face any immediate threat.
The eruption killed two hikers from Singapore and one from Indonesia, local police chief Erlichson Pasaribu said on Friday.
Seventeen other climbers, including seven Singaporeans, had been brought down safely.
Rescuers combing the area around the edge of the volcano’s crater found a woman’s body, local search and rescue agency head Iwan Ramdani said, without specifying her nationality.
“The joint search and rescue team… found the dead victim at 2.30pm (0530 GMT) along with her backpack,” Iwan said in a statement.
The body was transported to a local hospital for identification, he added.
Images shared by the rescue agency showed a team carrying a black body bag on a makeshift stretcher down the mountain.
The search for the remaining victims has been suspended due to rains and volcanic ash, Iwan said.
The volcano erupted again several times on Saturday, once spewing ash column about three kilometres 2.9 km high, according to the national Centre for Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation.
Authorities have imposed a four-kilometre exclusion zone around the crater since December 2024, according Lana Saria, head of the government’s Geology Agency.
The police said on Friday that the hikers had ignored social media appeals and signs at the entrance of the trail warning people to stay away. AFP