JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesian authorities said Thursday they have helped more than 170 climbers caught a day earlier. Sudden eruption of Mount Semeru return to safety as seismic activity hits Java's highest point volcano indicates that the eruption will continue.
About 178 people, including climbers, porters, guides, tourism officials and tourists, began their trek up the 3,676-metre (12,060 ft) mountain in East Java's Lumajang district on Wednesday and were stranded at the Ranu Kumbolo campsite.
“They are safe and are now being helped to return,” Priatin Hadi Wijaya, head of the Center for Volcanology and Geological Disaster Mitigation, said at a video press conference.
Another center spokeswoman, Hetti Triastuti, added that Ranu Kumbolo is a safe zone located outside the main danger zone 8 kilometers (5 miles) from the crater. The tent site is on the northern slope of the mountain, which is not in the path of the hot clouds moving from the south-southeast. However, climbers could be exposed to volcanic ash.
Mount Semeru in East Java province released searing clouds of hot ash and a mixture of rocks, lava and gas that spread up to 13 kilometers (8 miles) down its slopes in a row from midday to dusk on Wednesday, while a thick column of hot clouds rose 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) into the air, prompting scientists to raise the alert for the volcano to the highest level, Indonesian Geology Agency head Muhammad said Wafid.
He said a series of flows of pyroclastic density descended the mountain's slopes, and incandescent avalanches of volcanic material were visible descending through the Besuk Cobocan River valley on the southern slope.
“Seismic activity of Mount Semeru showed that the eruption continued at a high level with increasing signals indicating avalanches,” Wafid said.
He warned people to stay away from the area along the Besuk Cobocan River, where lava flowed as scalding gas flowed down the slopes of Semeru, adding that authorities were considering expanding the danger zone from the current 8 kilometers (5 miles).
About 1,000 residents of the three most at-risk villages in Lumajang district were evacuated to government shelters, National Disaster Mitigation Agency spokesman Abdul Mukhari said. No casualties were reported.
Video on social media showed a thick cloud of ash rushing through plantations and a forested valley to the river below the bridge.
The eruptions during the day covered several villages in thick volcanic ash and blocked out sunlight. Local media reported that some residents smelled sulfur and that two motorcyclists crashed due to hot ash on the bridge, leaving their bodies with severe burns.
Mount Semeru, also known as Mahameru, has erupted several times over the past 200 years. Yet, as is the case with many of Indonesia's 129 active volcanoes, tens of thousands of people continue to live on its fertile slopes.
The last major eruption of Semeru occurred in December 2021 when it killed 51 people and burned several hundred more in villages buried under layers of mud. The eruption forced the evacuation of more than 10,000 people. The government has removed about 2,970 houses from the danger zone.
Indonesia, an archipelago of more than 280 million people, lies along the Pacific “Ring of Fire,” a series of horseshoe-shaped fault lines, and is prone to earthquakes and volcanic activity.
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Associate
