Rescuers have recovered the body of an Indonesian woman who was caught in a volcanic eruption on Mount Dukono on Indonesia’s remote island of Halmahera, officials have said. The woman, identified only as Enjel and known as a local hiker, was found on Saturday afternoon about 50 metres from the rim of the main crater.
Search operations continued on Saturday for the bodies of two Singaporeans. The dead hikers were among 20 who set out to scale the 1,355-metre volcano in defiance of safety restrictions and became stranded when Dukono erupted early on Friday, spewing a thick ash column about 10km into the air.
Iwan Ramdani, who heads the local search and rescue office, said the location of the two Singaporean climbers remains unknown, and rescue efforts are continuing amid high volcanic activity. “The rescue efforts went through a situation that required careful calculation and a well-planned evacuation strategy,” he said.
Since the eruption, 17 hikers have been safely evacuated, including seven Singaporean nationals and two Indonesians who joined the rescue operation. Ten of those evacuated suffered minor burn injuries. The search operation, involving more than 100 people supported by drones, resumed early on Saturday, focusing on a 700 sq metre area where clues were found during earlier searches.
Indonesia’s volcanology agency reported a series of eruptions from early Saturday into the late morning, including ash columns rising to 3,000 metres. Mount Dukono has been on the second-highest alert level since 2008, and all hiking routes were closed by local authorities in April. The national disaster management agency warned that entering restricted zones could result in legal sanctions.
