A search and rescue team was warned yesterday to stay clear of an Indonesian volcano following a deadly eruption as experts checked for signs of further activity.
The 2,392m Mount Bromo, a popular tourist destination, shot out a shower of rocks and stones on Tuesday afternoon -- killing a 13-year-old Singaporean boy and an Indonesian and injuring five other people.
Geologists and vulcanologists were studying the mountain in East Java to find out what caused the eruption and assess whether the volcano is still dangerous.
PHOTO: REUTERS
"We cannot say yet whether there will be more eruptions. We still have to monitor the seismograph for a while," said Hendrastro, who heads the vulcanology office's Central and East Java sector.
Tuesday's eruption was the second that day in the Indonesian Archipelago, which sits on the "Pacific Rim of Fire" noted for its volcanic and seismic activity.
Hendrasto said thin smoke to a height of some 50m was emerging from the crater yesterday.
"There are no signs of an impending eruption, but then yesterday there were also no signs heralding the explosion such as shallow earthquakes, etc," he said by phone from the Bromo observatory station.
Hendrasto said they have advised the search team to stay away until the area is declared safe.
The site has been closed to the public till further notice.
Ahmadi Utomo, who heads search and rescue efforts, said he has no reports of anyone still missing following Tuesday's 20-minute eruption, which showered ash on the city of Malang some 40km to the west.
He planned to comb the plateau of volcanic sand from which the conical Mount Bromo rises, as well as the volcano's slopes, as a precautionary measure but said he has now told the searchers to await the all-clear.
The state Antara news agency, quoting local sources, said three flower sellers are missing. Utomo said he could not confirm the report.
Some policemen and volunteers have begun to search the sand plateau, he said.
A hospital morgue official in the nearby town of Probolinggo identified the Singaporean as Muhammad Nurhakim.
The other victim was a 21-year-old man from Surabaya in East Java.
In the island of Sangihe, hundreds of miles to the northeast, the 1,320m Mount Awu was yesterday morning still spewing smoke and ash.
"There was a rather loud eruption of smoke and ash around 5:20 this morning, but after that, there were only the continuous series of small smoke explosions as in past weeks," said Endi Dina of the local monitoring station.
Local officials say about 20,000 people have been evacuated from the slopes of the mountain, which began showering hot ash on villages on Sunday.
Mount Awu last erupted in 1992 but caused no casualties. A major eruption in August 1966 killed 39 people and caused thousands to flee.
Sangihe is part of an island chain stretching north from Sulawesi towards Mindanao in the southern Philippines.
Indonesia was the scene of one of history's largest volcanic eruptions when Mount Krakatoa in the Sunda Strait erupted on August 27, 1883.
More than 36,000 people were killed, mostly by huge tidal waves.
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr yesterday vowed that those behind bogus flood control projects would be arrested before Christmas, days after deadly back-to-back typhoons left swathes of the country underwater. Scores of construction firm owners, government officials and lawmakers — including Marcos’ cousin congressman — have been accused of pocketing funds for substandard or so-called “ghost” infrastructure projects. The Philippine Department of Finance has estimated the nation’s economy lost up to 118.5 billion pesos (US$2 billion) since 2023 due to corruption in flood control projects. Criminal cases against most of the people implicated are nearly complete, Marcos told reporters. “We don’t file cases for
A feud has broken out between the top leaders of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party on whether to maintain close ties with Russia. The AfD leader Alice Weidel this week slammed planned visits to Russia by some party lawmakers, while coleader Tino Chrupalla voiced a defense of Russian President Vladimir Putin. The unusual split comes at a time when mainstream politicians have accused the anti-immigration AfD of acting as stooges for the Kremlin and even spying for Russia. The row has also erupted in a year in which the AfD is flying high, often polling above the record 20 percent it
Ecuadorans are today to vote on whether to allow the return of foreign military bases and the drafting of a new constitution that could give the country’s president more power. Voters are to decide on the presence of foreign military bases, which have been banned on Ecuadoran soil since 2008. A “yes” vote would likely bring the return of the US military to the Manta air base on the Pacific coast — once a hub for US anti-drug operations. Other questions concern ending public funding for political parties, reducing the number of lawmakers and creating an elected body that would
‘ATTACK ON CIVILIZATION’: The culture ministry released drawings of six missing statues representing the Roman goddess of Venus, the tallest of which was 40cm Investigators believe that the theft of several ancient statues dating back to the Roman era from Syria’s national museum was likely the work of an individual, not an organized gang, officials said on Wednesday. The National Museum of Damascus was closed after the heist was discovered early on Monday. The museum had reopened in January as the country recovers from a 14-year civil war and the fall of the 54-year al-Assad dynasty last year. On Wednesday, a security vehicle was parked outside the main gate of the museum in central Damascus while security guards stood nearby. People were not allowed in because
RSS