Mount Dukono erupts on Halmahera island, trapping hikers who went to the area despite it being closed since April 17.

At least three hikers, including two Singaporeans and an Indonesian, have died after the Mount Dukono volcano erupted on Indonesia’s Halmahera island, according to a local police chief.

Twenty hikers were on the slopes when the disaster struck on Friday morning, North Halmahera police chief Erlichson Pasaribu told reporters at a volcano monitoring station in Mamuya village.

“To date, 15 climbers have safely descended,” Erlichson said several hours after the early-morning eruption. He did not comment on the whereabouts of the last two among the 20.

The area had been closed to visitors since April 17 after scientists observed an increase in volcanic activity. Authorities have told residents and tourists to stay 4km (2.4 miles) from the Malupang Warirang crater, which is the centre of the volcanic activity.

The ash was being distributed in a northerly direction, so the government volcano agency issued a warning for residents in Tobelo town that they could be affected by “volcanic ash rain”.

They have also warned of a direct threat of ejected rocks and the potential of lava flows.

Mount Dukono is an extremely active volcano and since March, it has erupted close to 200 times.

Witness account

Tour guide Alex Djangu, who was on the slopes when the eruption happened, said he arrived with a tour group on Thursday and found the volcano acting “a bit strange”.

“This was the first time I’d seen it so quiet. I told the guests that a major eruption is going to happen because the volcano is accumulating pressure at the bottom of the crater. And my prediction turned out to be correct,” he told the AFP news agency by telephone from his hotel not far from the volcano.

When the eruption happened, there were two groups of tourists, about 15 in total, at the crater rim, the 48-year-old recounted.

“I panicked, I thought they had all died, but it turned out that in the end only three died,” he added.

Djangu was with two German hikers who “survived because we were in the safe radius,” said the guide, describing this as the biggest eruption of Mount Dukono he has ever witnessed.

“Previously, when there was an eruption, there would be a single blast and then it was over. This time, the eruption started at 7:42am [on Friday, or 22:42 GMT on Thursday] and by the time we came down, the intensity was still the same, rocks were still coming out of the crater.”

By Friday afternoon, Erlichson said the bodies of the three deceased were still on the mountain.

“Due to ongoing eruptions, the situation is still considered unsafe for evacuation. So, the joint team is still waiting for the right time to begin the search,” he said.

Some of the hikers had suffered minor injuries and were taken to hospital for treatment.

The group’s guide and a porter were taken to the police station and could face criminal charges for taking hikers into a banned area, added the police chief.

Since December last year, the Center for Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation (PVMBG) has warned tourists and climbers not to venture within four kilometres (2.4 miles) of the volcano’s Malupang Warirang crater after scientists spotted an uptick in seismic activity.

Erlichson said the hikers had ignored social media appeals and warning signs at the entrance of the trail to stay away.

“Local residents understand and don’t want to climb. Many [hikers] are foreign tourists who wish to create [social media] content,” he said.

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 about 130 active volcanoes. Mount Dukono is on level two of Indonesia’s four-tiered alert system.