Indonesian rescuers find hikers' bodies after volcanic eruption

Subscribed with another email? Logout and Login with that one. Account subscription benefits alongside Premium Stories, Editorials, Opinions and more. Unlock these with Subscription The View From India Looking at World Affairs from the Indian perspective. First Day First Show News and reviews from the world of cinema and streaming. Today's Cache Your download of the top 5 technology stories of the day. Science For All The weekly newsletter from science writers takes the jargon out of science and puts the fun in! Data Point Decoding the headlines with facts, figures, and numbers THEdge At the cutting edge of education and careers Health Matters Ramya Kannan writes to you on getting to good health, and staying there Gender Agenda Stories from beyond the binary. The Hindu On Books Books of the week, reviews, excerpts, new titles and features. Published - May 10, 2026 04:19 pm IST - North Halmahera In this photo released by the Indonesian National Search and Rescue Agency (BASARNAS) rescuers carry the body of a victim of the eruption of Mount Dukono, on Halmahera Island, Indonesia, Saturday, May 9, 2026. | Photo Credit: AP Indonesian rescuers retrieved on Sunday (May 10, 2026) the remains of two Singaporean hikers killed in a volcanic eruption in a seismic no-go zone, capping a three-day search operation, officials said. Mount Dukono on Halmahera island erupted on Friday (May 8), sending an ash tower 10 kilometres (six miles) above its peak and killing three climbers. Seventeen other hikers, including seven Singaporeans, had been brought down safely. Search and rescue teams, combing the area as the volcano continued rumbling and belching ash clouds, found the remains of the two dead Singaporeans on Sunday (May 10), National Disaster Mitigation Agency spokesman Abdul Muhari said in a statement. Their bodies were found not far from where the remains of an Indonesian hiker had been found a day earlier, he added. "The evacuation process of the last two bodies encountered obstacles due to the victims' position, being buried under volcanic materials of significant thickness and depth," Mr. Abdul said. The search operation has now officially ended, he added. Local search and rescue agency head Iwan Ramdani said the bodies found on Sunday (May 10) were recovered during a "golden moment" between ongoing eruptions. Speaking to reporters from a volcano monitoring station in Mamuya village, he said that the remains had been transported to a local hospital for identification, after which they would be handed over to the victims' families. Staff from the Singapore embassy in Jakarta were in Halmahera to coordinate with rescuers and facilitate the repatriation of the seven Singaporean survivors, who are expected to return home on Sunday (May 10), the city state's foreign ministry said in a statement. Dukono, one of Indonesia's most active volcanoes, has been on level two of Indonesia's four-tiered alert system since 2008. Authorities have imposed a four-kilometre exclusion zone around the crater since December 2024, according to the head of the government Geology Agency, Lana Saria. Local police chief Erlichson Pasaribu said on Friday that the hikers had ignored social media appeals and warning signs put up at the entrance of the trail to stay away. 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 nearly 130 active volcanoes. Indonesia / volcanic eruption / natural disasters Copyright© 2026, THG PUBLISHING PVT LTD. or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. Terms & conditions | Institutional Subscriber Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments. We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.

Indonesian rescuers find hikers' bodies after volcanic eruption

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Indonesian rescuers find hikers' bodies after volcanic eruption

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