At least three hikers were killed and at least 10 are still missing after being caught up in a volcano eruption on Indonesia’s Mount Dukono.
Authorities said earlier that they had launched an urgent mission to rescue at least 20 hikers who were believed to be on the mountain at the time of the eruption.
Two of those killed were foreign nationals, officials said. Earlier it was reported that nine Singaporean citizens were among the stranded hikers.
"There are three dead, two foreigners and one resident of Ternate" island in east Indonesia, police chief Erlichson Pasaribu of North Halmahera province told Kompas TV.
The two dead are believed to be Singapore nationals, though that has not been formally confirmed.
The volcano, located on Halmahera Island, erupted at 7.41am on Friday, spewing volcanic ash as high as 10km above the crater, said the country's volcanology agency.
Officials urged residents and tourists to avoid going within 4km of the crater while the agency also warned of the risks of rains causing volcanic mudflows.
The agency maintained the alert status at the mountain at its third highest level, agency head Lana Saria said in a statement.
There are not yet any reports of flight disruptions caused by the eruption.
Iwan Ramdani, the head of the local rescue agency, said they have deployed dozens of personnel, including police, to search for the hikers trapped by the eruption.
This is not the first time that hikers have been left stranded due to a sudden eruption at Mount Dukono, one of the country’s most active volcanoes.
On 6 April a group of trekkers suddenly found themselves in the middle of an eruption with a towering column of ash and debris shooting into the sky, with dramatic video footage of the episode aired on Channel News Asia.
As panic set in some hikers instinctively rushed downhill, before a local guide intervened and instructed everyone to stay put. "Don't go down, come up! Up, up, up," the guide can be heard screaming in the video.
Descending during an active eruption can actually be more dangerous, as ash clouds, fast-moving debris and volcanic gases often travel downhill.
Indonesia is an archipelago of more than 280 million people with frequent seismic activity. It has 120 active volcanoes and sits along the “Ring of Fire”, a horseshoe-shaped series of seismic fault lines encircling the Pacific Basin.
In November last year, civilians had to run for safety after the country’s Mount Semeru volcano erupted, sending a 2km cloud of ash into the air. Months earlier, Mount Lewotobi Laki Laki in south-central Indonesia erupted in July, blanketing villages in thick volcanic ash.
That was one of the largest eruptions since 2010, when Mount Merapi, the country’s most volatile volcano, erupted on the densely populated island of Java killing 353 people and forcing over 350,000 people to evacuate.
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