Three hikers dead and 10 missing after Indonesia’s Mount Dukono volcano erupts

Three hikers have died and 10 are missing after an eruption at Mount Dukono on Indonesia’s eastern Halmahera island spewed an ash cloud about 10km (6 miles) into the air, local police have said. “There are three dead, two foreigners and one resident of Ternate [island in east Indonesia],” Erlichson Pasaribu, the police chief of North Halmahera district, told Kompas TV. Seven people had come down safely, Erlichson said, but 10 more were missing in an area declared off limits to visitors last month after scientists observed an increase in volcanic activity. According to Indonesia’s national disaster management agency (BNPB), five climbers were also injured in the eruption. “The joint teams from the regional disaster management agency and the national search and rescue agency continue to conduct sweeps and evacuations of climbers in the mountain area as volcanic activity increases,” a spokesperson, Abdul Muhari, said. The rescue operation is taking place in rough terrain only partly accessible to vehicles. Photograph: Basarnas/EPA Erlichson said the rescue operation was taking place in rough terrain only accessible to vehicles part of the way up the slope. “The rest of the way [the victims] need to be carried on a stretcher. And there is still rumbling from the eruption. It slows down our evacuation,” he said. …