By EFE
21 Aug 2024, 02:10 AM EDT
A group of climbers who were on the summit of the Indonesian volcano Dukono (Halmahera Island, north of the archipelago) managed to save their lives after immediately escaping when they were surprised by an eruption last Saturday, the Disaster Agency confirmed to EFE on Wednesday.
“We have no reports of casualties so far,” said Abdul Muhari of the National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB) about the situation at the volcano, which is still experiencing eruptions, although the largest one occurred on Saturday.
The climbers were not authorized.
According to a video of that moment, which began circulating on social media, the 24 climbers are about to reach the summit, when suddenly the crater begins to expel a dense column of smoke that causes the climbers to quickly descend the mountainside.
A BNPB statement dated Tuesday said the climbers were making an “unauthorized” climb and were “lucky to escape the mountain of ash at that time.”
🇮🇩 | Climbers are miraculously saved after Indonesia’s Dukono volcano erupts.
The terrifying video in the crater uploaded on Instagram by anak_esa shows dozens of climbers nearly being hit by the material from the eruption of Mount Dukono.… pic.twitter.com/TKNum5Iu1T
— World Alert (@AlertaMundoNews) August 19, 2024
Authorities in Indonesia reported that none of the climbers were apparently seriously injured, despite the magnitude of the accident.
“They have been blacklisted (for future escalations),” Muhari told EFE about the group of more than a dozen people, according to the images, without offering further details.
Volcano of more than a thousand meters
The Indonesian agency adds that the volcano, just over 1,000 metres high and located on the largest of the Moluccas islands, is still experiencing “continuous eruptions” – maintaining the alert level at 2 on a scale of 4 – and climbing it is not permitted, while warning the population not to approach a 3-kilometre radius of the summit.
It also recalls the tragedy of the Marapi volcano, on the western island of Sumatra, where 21 climbers died in December last year, following an eruption when the volcano was also at alert level 2.
Active volcanoes
Indonesia is home to more than 400 volcanoes, of which at least 129 are still active and 65 are classified as dangerous.
The Indonesian archipelago sits within the so-called Pacific Ring of Fire, an area of high seismic and volcanic activity that is shaken by some 7,000 tremors a year, most of which are of low magnitude.
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