Toll now 22 after eruption of Indonesian volcano
BATU PALANO, Indonesia – Rescuers searching the hazardous slopes of Indonesia’s Mount Marapi volcano found 11 more bodies of climbers who were caught by a surprise eruption Sunday, raising the number of confirmed dead to 22, officials said Tuesday.
More than 50 climbers were rescued after the initial eruption, and 11 others were initially confirmed dead. New eruptions Monday and Tuesday spewed more hot ash as high as 2,600 feet into the air, reducing visibility and temporarily halting search and recovery work, said Abdul Malik, chief of the Padang Search and Rescue Agency.
The bodies of two climbers were located on Monday and nine more on Tuesday, the National Search and Rescue Agency said.
One climber remained missing and was presumed dead because of being very close to the eruption site, said Edi Mardianto, the deputy police chief in West Sumatra province.
The rescuers contended with bad weather and difficult terrain, along with winds that brought heat from the eruptions. Sixteen bodies had been taken to a hospital for identification by late Tuesday as more than 200 rescuers, including police and soldiers, struggled to bring the others down the mountain and search for the missing climber, Malik said.
Marapi has stayed at the third highest of four alert levels since 2011, indicating above-normal volcanic activity under which climbers and villagers must stay more than 3 kilometers (1.8 miles) from the peak, according to Indonesia’s Center for Volcanology and Geological Disaster Mitigation.
Local officials acknowledge that many people may have climbed higher than permitted and villagers may have been in the area, making the number of stranded people difficult to confirm.
Marapi spewed thick columns of ash as high as 9,800 feet in Sunday’s eruption, and hot ash clouds spread for several miles. Nearby villages and towns were blanketed by tons of volcanic debris that blocked sunlight, and authorities recommended that people wear masks as protection from the ash.
About 1,400 people live on Marapi’s slopes in Rubai and Gobah Cumantiang, the nearest villages, about 3 miles from the peak.