Three people are dead and five others were injured Friday when Mount Dukono erupted on a remote Indonesian island, where the hikers were in a restricted area, authorities said.
About 20 climbers set out Thursday to climb the nearly 1,355-meter (4,445-foot) volcano in Halmahera, Indonesia, despite safety restrictions, North Halmahera police chief Erlichson Pasaribu said.
"They were aware that climbing was prohibited as the mountain is a restricted zone due to its high alert status, but insisted on going ahead," Pasaribu said.
Despite warnings on social media and signs at the site, "many people remain determined to climb, driven by the desire to create online content," Pasaribu said.
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Pasaribu said that three people, including one local resident and two Singaporeans, were killed in the eruption. The Indonesian victim was from Ternate, which is in the same province as Mount Dukono.
The three victims' bodies remain on the volcano, with ongoing eruptions and difficult terrain preventing them from being evacuated by rescue teams, Pasaribu said.
The group became stranded when the volcano erupted at 7:41 a.m. local time, sending a column of ash over six miles into the sky.
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Rescue teams were deployed after receiving an emergency signal from the mountain area.
As of Friday afternoon, 17 climbers had been safely evacuated, including seven Singaporean nationals and two Indonesians who joined the rescue operation and provided information on climbing routes of the victims before the eruption, National Disaster Management Agency spokesperson Abdul Muhari said.
Five of those evacuated were reported injured.
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Pasaribu said that police will question those who joined the hikers up the mountain. Fox News Digital has reached out to the Indonesian National Police for additional information.
According to the Smithsonian Institution's Global Volcanism Program, Mount Dukono has been continuously erupting since 1933.
"Friday’s eruption was among the strongest during this period," said Lana Saria, who heads Indonesia’s Geology Agency at the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
