Eleven climbers were found dead in Indonesia on Monday following the eruption of the Marapi volcano in West Sumatra, a rescue official said, as a search to find 12 more missing was temporarily halted over safety concerns. Three survivors were found on Monday along with the bodies of the 11 climbers, among 75 in the area at the time of Sunday’s eruption, said Jodi Haryawan, spokesperson for the search and rescue team.
The 2,891 metre (9,485 ft) high volcano spewed ash as high as 3 km into the sky on Sunday. Authorities raised the alert to the second-highest level and prohibited residents from going within 3 km of the crater.
Read Mountaineer Sirbaz Khan’s journey from cook to ace climber Video footage showed a huge cloud of volcanic ash spread widely across the sky and cars and roads covered with ash. A small eruption on Monday prompted the search to be suspended, Jodi said.—APP
