JAKARTA: Twenty hikers, nine of them from Singapore, were reported missing Friday after Mount Dukono on Indonesia&#39;s eastern Halmahera island erupted, spewing a smoke cloud some 10 kilometres (6.2 miles) into the air, a rescue official told AFP. &quot;Our team is on its way. It is not yet confirmed if there are injured people. Based on reports, there are about 20 people being searched for,&quot; local rescue official Iwan Ramdani said by telephone. He confirmed the 20 were all hikers, even though the area had been closed to visitors since April 17 after scientists observed an increase in volcanic activity. Lana Saria, head of the government Geology Agency, said the early-morning eruption was accompanied by a &quot;booming sound&quot; and a thick smoke column rising some 10 km from the summit of Mount Dukono in the North Maluku province. &quot;The direction of the ash distribution leans northward, so residential areas and Tobelo City need to be vigilant for... volcanic ash rain,&quot; she said in a statement. The smoke could be dangerous for public health, Lana added, and risked disrupting transportation services. Indonesia, a vast archipelago nation, experiences frequent seismic and volcanic activity due to its position on the Pacific &quot;Ring of Fire&quot; where tectonic plates collide. Mount Dukono is currently on the third-highest alert level of Indonesia&#39;s four-tiered alert system. Since December, the Center for Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation (PVMBG) has recommended that tourists and climbers do not come within four kilometres of the volcano&#39;s Malupang Warirang Crater.

A handout picture taken and released by Indonesia’s Geological Agency on May 8, 2026, shows smoke rising from the eruption of Mount Dukono as seen from Tobelo, North Maluku (AFP).

Asia

Lana Saria, head of the government Geology Agency, said the early-morning eruption was accompanied by a "booming sound" and a thick smoke column rising some 10 km from the summit of Mount Dukono in the North Maluku province.

20 hikers missing after volcano erupts in east Indonesia: rescue official

BEIJING: About 900 hikers, guides and other staff who were stranded by a weekend snowstorm on the Chinese side of Mount Everest have reached safety, state media said late Tuesday. A severe storm struck the area Saturday night, cutting off access to where the hikers were staying in tents at an altitude of more than 4,900 meters (16,000 feet). In all, 580 hikers and more than 300 guides, yak herders, and other workers were stranded. About 350 hikers were able to descend by noon Monday, and the rest had arrived by Tuesday, state media said, citing the local government. Some hikers reportedly had hypothermia, and the official Xinhua News Agency said about a dozen of them were escorted to a meeting point by teams with food, medicine, heating, and oxygen supplies. The scenic area at Mount Everest in China&#39;s Tibet region has been temporarily closed. The 8,850-meter (29,000-foot) peak, the world&#39;s highest, straddles the border with Nepal. The storm struck during a weeklong holiday that ends Wednesday. Many Chinese travel at home and abroad during the holiday, which marks the anniversary of the founding of the People&#39;s Republic of China on October 1, 1949. In Nepal, a South Korean climber died in a weekend storm near the summit of Mera Peak, a 6,476-meter (21,250-foot) Himalayan mountain south of Everest. Early-season snowstorms hit at least two other areas in western China over the weekend, killing one person and stranding motorists on an icy and snowy highway near a scenic hiking spot. More than 200 people were evacuated from a remote and rugged valley in the Qilian Mountains in Qinghai province. One person died of hypothermia and altitude sickness. The area is undeveloped, and authorities later warned people against entering without permission, citing the rugged terrain, unpredictable weather, and an average altitude of more than 4,000 meters (13,000 feet). In northwest China&#39;s Xinjiang region, the Kanas scenic area was closed after a snowstorm on Sunday that stranded motorists on a nearby highway. The road had been cleared by Monday, according to state media.

Climate

About 900 hikers and guides stranded by a snowstorm on Mount Everest’s Chinese side have been rescued, some suffering from hypothermia. The scenic area is closed due to other storms across western China, which have caused fatalities and travel disruptions.

Articles tagged with "Hikers"

20 hikers missing after volcano erupts in east Indonesia: rescue official

Hundreds of hikers rescued from Everest after severe snowstorm