Rescuers declared on Wednesday that the last hiker, who had been missing since a volcanic eruption in Indonesia, was discovered lifeless, pushing the death toll to 23, three days post the catastrophic event.
As 75 people ventured through the area on Sunday, Mount Marapi on Sumatra Island in Indonesia’s western region erupted, propelling an ash column that reached 3,000 meters (9,800 feet)—a height greater than the volcano itself.
Battling adverse conditions including eruptions and inclement weather, hundreds of rescuers have displayed unwavering dedication in the arduous task of finding the missing hikers. The challenging efforts involve bringing the bodies down the mountain in body bags, with occasional retreats to shelter during unfavorable weather.
‘The joint search and rescue team has found one victim of the Mount Marapi eruption, who is now in the process of being evacuated,’ Abdul Malik, head of the Padang Search and Rescue Agency, told reporters on Wednesday evening.
Basarnas, the national search and rescue agency, had previously disclosed that the final hiker was identified as a woman.
The indication that the final hiker might be deceased emerged late on Tuesday after Suharyono, the West Sumatra police chief, who, like many Indonesians, is identified by a single name, shared this information with reporters.
’23 people are suspected to have died. We all prayed they all could be rescued but there was nothing we could do, God and nature had made a decision,’ he said.
Marapi, which means “Mountain of Fire”, was still billowing a column of smoke into the sky on Wednesday morning before another eruption just after midday local time (0500 GMT), an AFP journalist said.
Officials monitoring the volcano had also detected at least five further eruptions on Tuesday as the search went on.
Fifty-two people had been rescued since the eruption and some of the survivors have described their panic after it started.
‘I was zig-zagging, going down around 30 to 40 metres’ to a trekking post, Ridho, 22, told AFP from a bed in a nearby hospital.
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‘The eruption sounded loud, I took a look behind and then immediately ran away as everyone did. Some jumped and fell. I took cover behind the rocks, there were no trees there.’
Suharyono said on Tuesday evening that two of the 75 hikers were police officers, one of whom survived. He suspected the other had been killed.
‘They both just wanted to see the volcano, they were off duty,’ he said.
‘One of them survived and had a broken arm, he is being treated by doctors. For the other one, we suspected he died. Let’s wait for confirmation.’
The head of Indonesia’s volcanology agency, Hendra Gunawan, said Marapi has been at the second level of a four-tier alert system since 2011, and a three-kilometre exclusion zone had been imposed around its crater.
He seemed to place blame on the hikers for their proximity to the crater following the eruption, emphasizing that the agency had recommended avoiding any activity in that specific area.
The official count of hikers, as provided by officials, was derived from an online registration system; however, authorities cautioned that there could have been more on unauthorized routes.
‘Maybe there were hikers who were not registered, and sometimes illegal hikers did not want to pay, they just climbed,’ said Suharyono.
The frequent seismic and volcanic activity in Indonesia is a result of its location on the Pacific “Ring of Fire,” where colliding tectonic plates contribute to this phenomenon.
As the preeminent active volcano on Sumatra, Marapi holds its place within the expansive group of nearly 130 active volcanoes spread across the Indonesian archipelago.