Tragedy struck on Monday as the aftermath of a volcanic eruption in Indonesia resulted in the discovery of eleven deceased hikers, while another 12 individuals remained unaccounted for.
Mount Marapi, situated on the island of Sumatra, erupted, causing a flurry of rescue efforts to aid injured survivors and locate those missing.
Following the eruption on Sunday that saw the volcano discharge an ash tower soaring 3,000 metres (9,340 feet) into the sky, rescue teams laboured tirelessly through the night to locate and assist numerous hikers stranded on Mount Marapi.
Local rescue authorities discovered the bodies of the deceased hikers near Marapi’s crater, amidst the aftermath of the eruption that blanketed nearby villages in ash.
Additionally, twelve individuals were reported missing, while three survivors were found alive. Fortunately, 49 hikers had successfully descended from the crater; however, some suffered burns and fractures during the ordeal, requiring medical attention.
“They are being carried down manually; rescuers are taking turns bringing them down. We can’t do an air search with a helicopter because the eruption is ongoing,” said local rescue agency chief Abdul Malik, who added that about 120 rescuers were involved in the search.
The three other people who had been found alive were yet to be taken down the mountain, along with the 11 dead.
Those three survivors were found near the crater, and “their condition was weak, and some had burns,” Malik said.
A clip shared with AFP showed a rescue worker with a flashlight strapped to his head piggybacking a hiker, who moans in pain and says “God is greatest” as she is led to safety in the darkness of night.
Zhafirah Zahrim Febrina, one of the rescued hikers, is shown in a video message from the volcano desperately appealing to her mother for help.
The 19-year-old student appeared shocked; her face burned and her hair matted with thick grey ash.
“Mom, help Ife. This is Ife’s situation right now,” she said, referring to her nickname.
She is now in a nearby hospital with her father and uncle after being trapped on the mountain on a hiking trip with 18 school friends.
“She is going through a tremendous trauma,” said her mother, Rani Radelani, 39.
“She is affected psychologically because she saw her burns, and she also had to endure the pain all night.”
Local rescue agency spokesperson Jodi Haryawan said the rescue efforts had been broken up by sporadic eruptions, but the search was still going despite the risks.
“Once it was safer, they continued the search. So the search was not halted,” he told AFP.
Rudy Rinaldi, head of the West Sumatra Disaster Mitigation Agency, told AFP that some of the rescued hikers had suffered burns.
“Those who are injured were the ones who got closer to the crater,” he said.
At least eight people suffered burns; one had burns and a fracture, and another had a head wound, according to a list of those found by Basarnas, a national search and rescue agency, seen by the AFP.
Ahmad Rifandi, an official at the Mount Marapi monitoring station, told AFP that ash rain was observed after the eruption and had reached Bukittinggi, the third-largest city in West Sumatra that has a population of more than 100,000.
The plume of smoke and ash blocked out the sun after the eruption and coated nearby cars, scooters, and ambulances.
Marapi is on the second alert level of Indonesia’s four-step system, and authorities have imposed a three-kilometre exclusion zone around its crater.
The Indonesian archipelago sits on the Pacific Ring of Fire, where the meeting of continental plates causes high volcanic and seismic activity.
The Southeast Asian country has nearly 130 active volcanoes.
As the search went on for the missing 12 hikers, Febrina’s family was relieved that she was one of the lucky ones.
Good news arrived in the form of a live stream on the video app TikTok by a member of the rescue services, in which Radelani saw her visibly shaken daughter.
“It felt incredible; praise God she has been found,” Radelani said.
“If she asks me to allow her to climb a mountain, I’ll say no.”
AFP
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