Eleven Climbers Dead, 12 Missing After Eruption

Eleven climbers have been killed and 12 more are missing after the eruption of Indonesia’s Mount Marapi, local officials have said.

Seventy-five people were in the area when the volcano in West Sumatra erupted on Sunday, according to authorities, among whom 26 were not evacuated.

“There are 26 people who have not been evacuated, we have found 14 of them, three were found alive and 11 were found dead,” said Abdul Malik, head of the Padang Search and Rescue Agency.

Video footage of Sunday’s eruption showed a huge cloud of volcanic ash spread across the sky and cars and roads covered with debris. A minor eruption on Monday forced rescue workers to suspend their operations.

Indonesia sits on the Pacific’s so-called “Ring of Fire” and has 127 active volcanoes, according to the country’s volcanology agency, including the 2,891-metre (about 9,500 ft) Mount Marapi.

Mount Marapi, which is currently on the second alert level of Indonesia’s four-step warning scale, is among the most active volcanoes on Sumatra.

The volcano’s deadliest known eruption, in 1979, killed 60 people.

JAZEERA