CONTENT CREATORS
Since December, the Center for Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation (PVMBG) has recommended that tourists and climbers do not come within 4km of the volcano’s Malupang Warirang Crater.
Unlike Indonesia’s more tourist-friendly volcanoes, Mount Dukono sits far from the country’s main travel routes. Reaching it from Jakarta typically involves flights to Ternate, a boat crossing to Halmahera, and a long overland drive to Tobelo in North Halmahera before the trek even begins.
Hikers typically travel through dense forest before reaching barren volcanic terrain coated in ash and sulfur deposits.
Erlichson said the hikers had ignored social media appeals and warning signs put up at the entrance to the trail to stay away.
“Local residents understand and don’t want to climb. Many (hikers) are foreign tourists who wish to create (social media) content.”
Erlichson urged hikers to stay away to avoid a repeat of Friday’s avoidable disaster that has forced rescuers to deploy into in “tough terrain” even as the volcano continues rumbling.
“After this incident, we will be strictly monitoring posts that hikers can pass. So no hiking as long as the status remains at level 2,” he said.
Indonesia, a vast archipelago nation, experiences frequent seismic and volcanic activity due to its position on the Pacific “Ring of Fire” where tectonic plates collide.
The Southeast Asian country has nearly 130 active volcanoes.
Mount Dukono, one of three volcanoes on the Halmahera Island. It has been erupting continuously since 1933, with frequent ash explosions and sulfur dioxide plumes.
