Mount Dukono Eruption Kills Three Hikers in Indonesia
Two Singaporean nationals and one Indonesian citizen died on Friday, May 8, after Mount Dukono on Indonesia’s Halmahera island erupted without warning at 7:41am local time, sending a column of volcanic ash 10 kilometres into the sky. Twenty hikers were on the mountain when the eruption struck, all of them inside a zone that authorities had officially closed to visitors since April 17. Unfortunately two people from Singapore and one person from Indonesia died because of the eruption, on Mount Dukono. By Sunday, May 10, rescue teams confirmed they had located the two Singaporeans’ bodies near the crater rim, with evacuation still under way.
Iwan Ramdani, head of the local rescue agency, confirmed the two Singaporean nationals were found dead on Sunday, with rescuers locating the bodies around the crater rim. Getting them off the mountain proved far from straightforward. WTVB
“Evacuation of the bodies is still hampered by eruptions that continue to occur and bad weather,” Ramdani told Reuters, adding that rain was falling across the area. WTVB
Some 150 personnel supported by two thermal drones were deployed from Sunday morning, concentrating the search within 100 to 150 metres of the crater rim. The third fatality was an Indonesian woman from Ternate, identified as part of a group that included two Singaporean nationals aged 30 and 27. Wikipedia
Of the 20 hikers caught on the mountain, nine were from Singapore and the rest were Indonesian. Seventeen of the 20 climbers were safely evacuated by Friday evening, search and rescue officials said. The two Singaporeans remained missing for two days before their bodies were confirmed on Sunday. The Manila TimesCNN
North Halmahera police chief Erlichson Pasaribu was at a volcano monitoring station in Mamuya village when he briefed reporters. “To date, 15 climbers have safely descended,” he said several hours after the early-morning eruption. He did not at that stage account for the final two among the 20 hikers. Al Jazeera
The guide on one group, Alex Djangu, was leading two German tourists when he felt deep tremors before the eruption. “I saw the small rocks and gravel sliding down because of the tremors, then I told my clients we have to run down,” Djangu told CNN. He and the two Germans escaped safely. CNN
Djangu described what he saw in the moments before he fled. “When we were about 100 meters away, I saw two groups of local tourists, one group of nine people already close to the rim and the other were videoing for content,” he said. CNN
A survivor named only as Djangu recounted there were two groups of tourists at the crater rim when the eruption happened, totalling around 15 people. “I panicked, I thought they had all died, but it turned out that in the end only three died,” he said. Al Jazeera
Some hikers suffered minor injuries. They were taken to hospital for treatment. Al Jazeera
Mount Dukono is one of Indonesia’s most active volcanoes, with authorities noting increased activity since late March. The volcano continued to erupt into Friday afternoon “with supersonic sound,” according to Djangu. CNNCNN
Regional and International Impact
The deaths have drawn immediate attention in Singapore, where the government has not yet publicly commented on the confirmed fatalities as of Sunday. The incident puts pressure on Indonesian authorities over the enforcement of restricted zones around active volcanoes, a persistent challenge across the archipelago.
The group’s guide and a porter were taken to the police station and could face criminal charges for taking hikers into a banned area, according to police chief Pasaribu. Al Jazeera
Authorities warned residents in Tobelo town they could be affected by volcanic ash rain, as the direction of the ash distribution leaned to the north. They also issued warnings about the direct threat of ejected rocks and potential lava flows. Al Jazeera
No town or village sat close enough to the crater to face an immediate structural threat from the eruption itself, The Manila Times reported.
Background
Since December 2024, tourists and other climbers had been advised by Indonesia’s Center for Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation (PVMBG) not to take part in any activities within a 4-kilometre radius of Mount Dukono’s epicentre. The area was formally closed to visitors on April 17 after scientists observed an increase in volcanic activity. The PVMBG reported that Dukono had seen a significant increase in explosive magmatic eruptions since March 2026. Since March, there had been close to 200 eruptions recorded at the volcano. Despite the closure, many visitors ignored warning signs at the entrances, with some entering specifically to create social media content. Indonesia sits on the Pacific “Ring of Fire,” a zone of concentrated seismic and volcanic activity stretching from Japan and Indonesia across to California and South America, making events of this kind an enduring risk across the region. CNN + 4
What Happens Next
Rescue teams were continuing evacuation efforts as of Sunday morning, with ongoing eruptions and rain hampering the removal of the bodies from near the crater rim. It was hard for them to work with all the rain and eruptions. Indonesian police confirmed the volcano’s guide and a porter face potential criminal charges for bringing hikers into the restricted zone. Indonesian authorities are expected to review enforcement procedures around the volcano’s exclusion zone following the deaths. The PVMBG has maintained its advisory warning against any activity within 4 kilometres of the crater, and that restriction remains in force. Singapore’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs had not issued a formal statement by the time of publication.
