- As 11 bodies have been recovered, a dozen climbers remain missing after being trapped on the 2,900-meter mountain. About 75 people had attempted to ascend the peak when the disaster struck
- Nearby villages and towns were blanketed by tons of volcanic debris
JAKARTA: Eleven hikers have been confirmed deceased, while an additional 12 remain missing following a volcanic eruption in Indonesia. Rescue teams are urgently navigating the mountain on foot to transport injured and burned survivors to safety.
Mount Marapi has maintained its status at the third-highest alert level since 2011, denoting heightened volcanic activity and prohibiting climbers or villagers within a 3-kilometer (1.8-mile) radius of the peak, as explained by Hendra Gunawan, the head of the Center for Volcanology and Geological Disaster Mitigation.
Gunawan emphasized the prohibition on reaching the peak, stating on Monday, “This means that there should be no climbing to the peak.” He noted that climbers were permitted only below the danger zone, but some individuals disregarded these regulations to satisfy their desire to ascend further.
On Saturday, approximately 75 climbers began their ascent of the nearly 2,900-meter (9,480-foot) mountain, only to become stranded. Of those rescued on Sunday, eight were swiftly transported to hospitals due to burns, with one individual sustaining a broken limb, according to Hari Agustian, an official at the local Search and Rescue Agency in Padang, the capital of West Sumatra province.
The authorities have confirmed that all the climbers who registered at two command posts or online before attempting to climb the 2,900-meter Marapi volcano were accounted for. However, they could not rule out the possibility of illegal or local climbers being affected by the eruption that killed 11 people and left a dozen missing on Sunday.
The eruption sent thick columns of ash as high as 3,000 meters (9,800 feet) into the sky and hot ash clouds spread several miles (kilometers). Nearby villages and towns were covered by tons of volcanic debris. A video on social media showed the faces and hair of the rescued climbers smeared with volcanic dust and rain.
The authorities distributed masks and urged residents to wear eyeglasses to protect themselves from the ash. About 1,400 people live on the slopes of Marapi in Rubai and Gobah Cumantiang, the closest villages about 5 to 6 kilometers (3.1 to 3.7 miles) from the peak.
Gunawan, a volcanologist, said that there was no significant increase in volcanic earthquakes before Sunday’s eruption. Only three deep volcanic earthquakes were recorded between Nov. 16 and Sunday, and the deformation equipment on the peak showed a horizontal pattern on the radial axis and a slight inflation on the tangential axis.
He said that Marapi has been erupting regularly since 2004 with a gap of 2 to 4 years, and that the eruptions were not caused by the movement of magma.
“Marapi eruptions are always sudden and difficult to detect using equipment because the source is near the surface,” Gunawan said.
Marapi has been active since a January eruption that caused no casualties. It is one of the more than 120 active volcanoes in Indonesia, which is located on the Pacific “Ring of Fire,” an arc of volcanoes and fault lines around the Pacific Basin.
