No fewer than 11 hikers have been found dead near the crater of Indonesia’s Marapi volcano after it erupted over the weekend, rescuers say.
On Monday, three people were rescued. The hunt for 12 other people who have gone missing has been halted due to a minor eruption.
At the time of the eruption, there were 75 hikers in the area, but the majority were safely evacuated.
On Sunday, Mount Marapi, one of Indonesia’s 127 active volcanoes, hurled ash as high as 3km (9,800ft) into the air.
Authorities have issued the second-highest alert level and have prevented locals from approaching the crater within 3 kilometers.
According to Abdul Malik, chief of the Padang Search and Rescue Agency, the three people rescued were “weak and had some burns.” Earlier on Monday, 49 climbers were evacuated from the area; several of them had burns.
The video footage from Sunday’s volcano eruption showed a massive cloud of volcanic ash sweeping across the sky, as well as automobiles and roadways blanketed in ash.
Rescue personnel took turns bringing the dead and injured down the mountain’s difficult terrain and onto ambulances with sirens blaring.
“Some suffered from burns because it was very hot, and they have been taken to the hospital,” said Rudy Rinaldi, head of the West Sumatra Disaster Mitigation Agency.
According to the reports, one of the rescued hikers moaned in pain and murmured, “God is great,” as she piggybacked on a rescuer.
The local search and rescue team’s spokesperson, Jodi Haryawan, told reporters that it would be “too dangerous” to continue searching while the volcano was erupting.
Mount Marapi stands 2,891 meters (9,485 feet) tall on Indonesia’s westernmost Sumatra island.
The Indonesian archipelago is located on the Pacific Ring of Fire, where continental plates collide, resulting in intense volcanic and seismic activity.
