Indonesian rescue teams are searching for 20 hikers trapped on Mount Dukono after a major volcanic eruption sent ash 10 kilometres into the sky on Friday.

Indonesian emergency response teams have launched an urgent search and rescue operation to locate 20 hikers trapped on the slopes of Mount Dukono following a sudden volcanic eruption on Friday morning, a local rescue agency official confirmed to Reuters.

Mount Dukono, a highly active stratovolcano on Halmahera island in North Maluku province, erupted at 7:41 a.m. local time (10:41 p.m. GMT on Thursday). Indonesia’s national volcanology agency said the eruption sent a dense column of volcanic ash around 10 kilometres (6.2 miles) into the sky, covering nearby jungle and farmland in grey ash.

Authorities said the hikers were climbing the volcano when the eruption occurred. Iwan Ramdani, head of the North Maluku rescue agency, told Reuters that dozens of search and rescue personnel, police officers and military personnel had been deployed to search for the group.

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Ramdani said nine of the missing hikers are Singaporean nationals, while the remaining 11 are Indonesian citizens.

Authorities warn of further volcanic danger

Indonesia’s volcanology agency has kept Mount Dukono’s alert status at the third-highest level, warning of the risk of further eruptive activity.

Lana Saria, head of the agency, urged residents, tourists and workers to avoid all activity within a 4-kilometre (2.5-mile) radius of the crater.

Officials also warned of the danger of lahars - fast-moving volcanic mudflows caused when volcanic ash mixes with heavy rainfall. Authorities said the flows could damage roads and valleys and complicate rescue efforts on the mountain.

Despite the large ash plume, aviation authorities said there had been no reports of major flight disruption or airport closures in the region by Friday afternoon. Meteorological agencies are continuing to monitor the movement of the ash cloud to ensure commercial flight routes remain safe.

Indonesia’s volcanic risk

Indonesia, an archipelago of more than 17,000 islands, sits on the Pacific “Ring of Fire”, an area of intense seismic and volcanic activity. The country has nearly 130 active volcanoes and regularly experiences earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.

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