The bodies of 11 climbers were discovered on Monday, a day after Mount Marapi’s violent eruption, as Indonesian rescue teams searched for 12 people still believed to be missing.
Hendra Gunawan, director of the Center for Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation, said Mount Marapi has remained at the third-highest of four alert levels since 2011, a level that does not indicate above-normal volcanic activity. Climbers and villagers are prohibited from entering within 2.9 miles of the summit.
“This means you shouldn’t climb to the top,” Gunawan said, adding that climbers are only allowed below the danger zone, “but sometimes to satisfy the satisfaction of climbing further. , many climbers broke the rules,” he added.
About 75 climbers began climbing the 9,480-foot mountain on Saturday, but got stuck.
Hari Agustian, an official at the local search and rescue agency in Padang, the capital of West Sumatra province, said eight of those rescued on Sunday were taken to hospital with burns and one with broken limbs. Ta.
Agustian said all climbers registered at two command posts or online through the West Sumatra Conservation Authority before climbing.
He said it was possible that other people were using the road illegally or that local residents were operating in the area, but he could not confirm that.
Mount Marapi erupted on Sunday, spewing a thick column of ash 9,800 feet high, and a cloud of hot volcanic ash spreading for miles.
Nearby villages and towns were covered with large amounts of volcanic debris. Volcanic dust and rain stained the faces and hair of evacuated climbers, according to videos on social media.
As ash fell blanketed several villages and blocked sunlight, authorities handed out masks and urged residents to wear glasses to protect themselves from volcanic ash.
Approximately 1,400 people live on the slopes of Marapi in Rubai and Goba Kumantian, the closest villages located approximately 5.1 to 6.9 miles from the summit.
Gunawan said there was not a significant increase in volcanic earthquakes ahead of Sunday’s eruption.
Only three deep volcanic earthquakes were recorded between November 16 and Sunday, but the deformation device, or inclinometer, at the summit showed a horizontal pattern on the radial axis and a slight expansion on the tangential axis.
“This shows that the eruption process is proceeding rapidly and that the center of pressure is very shallow near the summit,” he said.
Gunawan said Mount Marapi has been observed to erupt regularly since 2004, at intervals of two to four years.
“Marapi eruptions are always sudden and difficult to detect using instruments because the eruption source is close to the surface,” Gunawan said. “This eruption was not caused by magma movement.”
Abdul Malik, head of the West Sumatra Provincial Search and Rescue Agency, said rescuers found the bodies of 11 climbers and rescued three others while searching for the missing on Monday morning.
“The process of evacuation of bodies and survivors is still ongoing,” he said, adding that rescue teams were still searching for 12 climbers who were reported missing.
Mount Marapi has been active since its eruption in January, which caused no casualties.
It is one of more than 120 active volcanoes in Indonesia and is prone to seismic upheavals due to its location on the Pacific Rim of Volcano, an arc of volcanoes and faults that encircles the Pacific Basin. .
