Volcano eruption in Indonesia kills 11 tourists and leaves a dozen missing

Motorists drive by as Mount Marapi spews volcanic material during an eruption in Agama, West Sumatra, Indonesia. Photo: ARDHY FERNANDO/AP

Eleven tourists are dead and 12 are missing after a volcano in Indonesia erupted, sending thick plumes of ash up to 10,000 feet into the air.

About 75 people explored the area around Mount Marapi in West Sumatra. on Sunday when it exploded, releasing a huge cloud of volcanic dust and debris that covered nearby villages and blotted out the sun.

While 49 tourists returned to the mountain's base, authorities discovered 11 bodies near the crater Monday morning. Three more were rescued.

Workers carried the dead and wounded across the mountain's rugged terrain on foot and to waiting ambulances.

The search for the 12 missing hikers was temporarily suspended later on Monday due to concerns about ongoing eruptions.

An Indonesian rescue team evacuates a victim from the Mount Marapi eruption on Monday Photo: ANTARA FOTO/REUTERS

«It's too dangerous if we continue searching now,» said Jodi Haryawan, a spokeswoman for the search and rescue team, adding that many of those who escaped are being treated for burns and broken bones at local hospitals.

Indonesia sits on the Pacific Ring of Fire, where the meeting of continental plates causes significant volcanic and seismic upheaval, and Mount Marapi is one of 127 active volcanoes scattered throughout the archipelago.

In April 1979, the deadliest to date day of the eruption of a mountain 2900 meters high, 60 people died.

According to Hendra Gunawan, head of the Center for Volcanology and Geological Disaster Mitigation, the volcano has been placed at the third highest of four alert levels since 2011, meaning «climbing to the summit is prohibited.»

But although climbers were only allowed to climb below the danger zone, he said that «sometimes many of them broke the rules to satisfy their satisfaction and climb further.»

Mr Gunawan added that the eruption that left towers of ash rose higher than the mountain itself, was not preceded by a significant increase in the number of volcanic earthquakes, suggesting that «the center of pressure is very shallow, around the summit.»

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Authorities have established a three-kilometer exclusion zone around the volcano's crater.

The eruption comes as 10 people remain missing in North Sumatra after floods and landslides hit a village near Lake Toba in southern Sumatra. Friday. At least one person was killed, dozens of houses and buildings were razed to the ground.