Rescuers recovered an Indonesian woman near Mount Dukono’s crater as teams continue searching for two Singaporean climbers after Friday’s eruption.
A rescue operation near Mount Dukono has found one body, but the search for two Singaporean climbers is still ongoing as volcanic activity continues to pose serious risks.
Rescuers recovered the body of an Indonesian woman who was caught in the eruption at Mount Dukono on Halmahera. a remote island in Indonesia. officials said.. The woman. identified by authorities only as Enjel and known as a local hiker. was located Saturday afternoon about 50 meters from the rim of the main crater. according to Iwan Ramdani. who leads the local Search and Rescue Office.
Ramdani said the operation required careful calculation and a planned evacuation approach. taking into account the possibility that activity could escalate and the safety of rescue personnel.. He also described the search as a “race” against eruptions. noting that authorities move teams closer only when conditions are declared safe.
In this context, the recovery highlights how quickly conditions can shift around active volcanoes, and how even well-organized teams must continually reassess risk as ash and eruptions change the environment.
More than 100 personnel resumed the search early Saturday with support from drones, focusing on an area of about 700 square meters where earlier searches had produced clues. The teams are operating in hazardous terrain while continuing to contend with intermittent eruptions.
Authorities said the bodies of two Singaporean climbers remain unlocated. Their whereabouts are still unknown, and rescue teams are continuing operations amid ongoing volcanic activity, Ramdani said.
Hours after the eruption began, authorities reported that 17 climbers were evacuated safely, including seven Singaporean nationals and two Indonesians.. Those Indonesian climbers eventually joined the rescue operation and shared information about climbing routes used by the victims before the eruption.
Among the evacuated, officials said ten suffered minor burn injuries. Even as evacuations concluded earlier, the search for the missing climbers shifted into a prolonged effort to locate remains without putting rescuers in unnecessary danger.
Volcanology updates from Indonesia indicated multiple eruptions from early Saturday through late morning, with ash columns rising as high as 3,000 meters above the crater. Lava bursts were also observed overnight from a monitoring post near the volcano.
Mount Dukono has been placed on Indonesia’s second-highest alert level since 2008. An exclusion zone of four kilometers around the active crater was enforced in December 2024, and local authorities later closed hiking routes to Mount Dukono in April, reinforcing the ban after Friday’s incident.
The National Disaster Management Agency warned that entering restricted zones could lead to legal sanctions. urging climbers and tour operators to comply with safety recommendations.. The agency also pointed to similar restrictions that apply to dozens of other active volcanoes across Indonesia that are currently at elevated alert levels.
Insight: While the recovery of Enjel’s body offers some closure, the continued lack of information on the two Singaporeans underscores the reality of searching volcanic terrain—where ash, eruptions, and hazardous access can slow progress and force teams to pause repeatedly.
Indonesia, an archipelago nation of more than 270 million people, sits along the Pacific “Ring of Fire” and is home to more than 120 active volcanoes, making preparedness and adherence to restrictions a recurring public safety challenge during periods of heightened alert.
Insight: The careful. safety-first approach described by the rescue chief reflects a broader lesson from active-volcano incidents: effective search-and-recovery depends not only on manpower and technology. but also on timing—moving teams only when conditions permit and withdrawing instantly when eruptions resume.
Mount Dukono volcanic eruption search and rescue Indonesia volcano alert