Sawt Falasteen - Indonesia rescuers retrieve hiker's body after volcanic eruption

Mount Dukono on Halmahera island erupted on Friday, sending an ash cloud 10 kilometres (six miles) into the sky, with no towns or villages near enough to face any immediate threat.

The eruption killed two hikers from Singapore and one from Indonesia, local police chief Erlichson Pasaribu said Friday.

Seventeen other climbers, including seven Singaporeans, had been brought down safely.

Rescuers combing the area around the edge of the volcano's crater found a woman's body, local search and rescue agency head Iwan Ramdani said, without specifying her nationality.

"The joint search and rescue team... found the dead victim at 2:30 pm (0530 GMT) along with her backpack," Iwan said in a statement.

The body was transported to a local hospital for identification, he added.

Images shared by the rescue agency showed a team carrying a black body bag on a makeshift stretcher down the mountain.

The search for the remaining victims has been suspended due to rains and volcanic ash and will resume on Sunday, Iwan said.

The volcano erupted again several times on Saturday, once spewing an ash column about three kilometres (1.8 miles) high, according to the national Centre for Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation.

Preliminary information suggested the two Singaporeans' bodies were about 20 to 30 metres (65-100 feet) from the rim of the crater, national disaster mitigation agency spokesman Abdul Muhari said in a statement.

Singaporean media quoted the foreign ministry saying it was working with the embassy in Jakarta to provide assistance to affected citizens and families.

Dukono, one of Indonesia's most active volcanoes, has been on level two of the country's four-tiered alert system since 2008.

Authorities have imposed a four-kilometre (2.5-mile) exclusion zone around the crater since December 2024, according Lana Saria, the head of the government's Geology Agency.

The police's Erlichson said on Friday that the hikers had ignored social media appeals and warning signs put up at the entrance of the trail to stay away.

Indonesia, a vast archipelago nation, experiences frequent seismic and volcanic activity due to its position on the Pacific "Ring of Fire" where tectonic plates collide.

The Southeast Asian country has nearly 130 active volcanoes.

H.Jarrar--SF-PST