The toll is heavy. Eleven hikers were found dead following the eruption of a volcano in western Indonesia, a rescue official told AFP on Monday.
“There are 26 people who were not evacuated, we found 14, three were found alive and eleven were found dead,” said Abdul Malik, head of the Padang search and rescue agency. , speaking the day after the eruption.
The eruption of Mount Marapi, on the island of Sumatra, began at 2:54 p.m. (07:54 GMT) on Sunday.
Abdul Malik said there were a total of 75 hikers who had been on the mountain since Saturday and rescuers were trying to count them.
Twelve of them are still missing and 49 have come down from the mountain, some having been taken to hospital.
Ash ejected from Mount Marapi was observed up to 3,000 m above its summit, Hendra Gunawan, head of the Indonesian Center for Vulcanology and Geological Hazards, said on Sunday.
Rescue teams worked through the night to help hikers get to safety, the West Sumatra Natural Resources Conservation Agency said.
“Burns due to high heat”
Rudy Rinaldi, director of the West Sumatra disaster mitigation agency, told AFP that some of the rescued hikers were receiving medical treatment.
“Some suffered burns due to the high heat and were taken to hospital,” he said.
Marapi, 2,891 m high and whose name means “the mountain of fire”, is the most active volcano in Sumatra. According to the authorities, it is currently at the third alert level, on a scale of four. It should not be confused with the Merapi volcano, which is on the island of Java.
Authorities have imposed a three-kilometer exclusion zone around its crater.
Indonesia is located on the Pacific Ring of Fire, where the meeting of continental plates causes significant volcanic and seismic activity. The country has nearly 130 active volcanoes.