Volcanic eruption in Indonesia: ashes 3 km high, hikers wanted

A volcano in western Indonesia erupted on Sunday, sending a column of ash about three kilometers into the sky and forcing authorities to rescue dozens of hikers.

Ash ejected from Mount Marapi, which is still erupting, has been observed up to 3,000 meters above its summit, said Hendra Gunawan, head of the Indonesian Center for Vulcanology and Geological Hazards.

The eruption, on the island of Sumatra, began at 2:54 p.m. (07:54 GMT), and has so far caused no casualties or damage.

“We can observe this very intense column of ash, dark gray, tilting towards the east,” Mr. Gunawan said in a press release, adding that “neither the people who live around the volcano nor the tourists “have the right to enter within a radius of three kilometers around the crater”.

But a total of 70 people were recorded entering the area on Saturday and Sunday morning, and 42 of them remained unlocated by the end of the day.

“Our teams are evacuating everyone. We have found and evacuated 28 people and continue to search for the others. We hope they are all unharmed,” said West Sumatra Natural Resources Protection Agency head Dian Indriati.

Some hikers, however, do not report entering or leaving the area, so the number of people still there is uncertain.

Zhafirah Zahrim Febrina, a 19-year-old student, was one of the hikers still coming down the mountain on Sunday. Her mother, Rani Radelani, posted a video online of her daughter covered in ashes and crying for help.

“She said she has no strength left. She had been hiking since Friday,” her mother told AFP. “She’s coming back down with her friends.”

Rescue teams were deployed to help hikers get to safety, West Sumatra’s natural resources management agency said.

“Agency teams are carrying out evacuations. We hope that there are no deaths and that everyone is safe,” said Dian Indriati, director of the agency.

Ade Setiawan, head of the local disaster agency, said in a statement that residents in surrounding villages had been given masks and reminded to stay inside their homes.

Marapi, 2,891 meters 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.

“The rain of ashes has now reached the town of Bukittinggi”, the third largest town in Sumatra with more than 100,000 inhabitants, announced Ahmad Rifandi, a manager of the Mount Marapi monitoring station, adding that it was advised to City residents having to go out wearing “hats, glasses and masks”.