Indonesian authorities evacuated more than 900 residents and began guiding 170 stranded climbers to safety on Thursday after Mount Semeru erupted multiple times on Java, according to officials overseeing the response.
The country kept the volcano at its highest alert level after it released towering ash columns and sent hot material cascading down its slopes. The eruption cut off access routes and forced climbers to shelter overnight near a lakeside campsite below the crater.
The climbers had been caught at a campsite around 6.4 kilometres from the crater when Semeru erupted 10 times on Wednesday. Septi Wardhani, an official at Semeru National Park, said teams reached them early Thursday.
“All climbers with their guides are safe,” Wardhani told Reuters, adding that emergency crews were accompanying them down the mountain. “The situation is under control.”
Footage released by Indonesia’s volcanology agency showed a dense ash cloud rising high above the peak and covering large sections of the mountain.
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East Java’s rescue agency deployed dozens of personnel to help with evacuations around the volcano. Prahista Dian, a spokesperson for the agency, said 956 residents from nearby communities had already been moved to temporary shelters set up in schools, mosques, and government buildings. “We’ve also deployed personnel to search for whether there are still residents trapped or not,” he said.
Officials said ash fall reached as far as 13 kilometres from the crater, with lava and rocks travelling along the southeastern flank.
Semeru last saw a major eruption in December 2021, when at least 51 people were killed and several villages were buried beneath ash and debris, according to Reuters and the BBC. At 3,676 metres, it remains one of Indonesia’s most active peaks.
Indonesia sits along the Pacific Ring of Fire, a region where shifting tectonic plates produce frequent earthquakes and volcanic activity. The country has around 130 active volcanoes, more than any other nation.
Authorities said monitoring would continue closely in the coming days as seismic activity around the volcano remained elevated.