JAKARTA: Three hikers, including two foreigners, were killed and 10 were missing after a volcano on Indonesia’s eastern Halmahera island erupted on Friday (May 8), spewing an ash cloud into the air, a local police chief said.
“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.
A local rescue official earlier told AFP that 20 hikers were reported missing, nine of them from Singapore.
He said all were hikers, even though the area had been closed to visitors since Apr 17 after scientists observed an increase in volcanic activity.
BBC News Indonesia and Tribun Ternate reported that two victims were from Singapore, although there has been no official confirmation of their nationalities.
Mount Dukono, located in North Maluku province, erupted on Friday at 7.41am local time (8.41am, Singapore time), sending a smoke cloud 10km into the air.
Lana Saria, head of the government Geology Agency, said the early-morning eruption was accompanied by a “booming sound”.
The smoke could be dangerous for public health, Lana added, and risked disrupting transportation services.
