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Three survivors were found on Monday along with the bodies of
the 11 climbers, out of 75 who were in the area at the time of
Sunday's eruption, said Jodi Haryawan, spokesperson for the
search and rescue team, adding they were all local climbers.
"We have continued to search for the 12 missing climbers until
this evening. We have not decided when we are going to stop the
operation," Jodi said in a phone call, adding they would
continue evacuating the three survivors and bodies of climbers.
There were 49 climbers evacuated from the area earlier on Monday
and many were being treated for burns, Jodi said.
It took around four to six hours to evacuate one dead body from
the volcano, Jodi said, adding: "It's very difficult."
The 2,891 meter (9,485 ft) high volcano spewed ash as high as 3
km into the sky on Sunday.
Marapi is one of the most active volcanoes on Sumatra island and
its most deadly eruption was in April 1979, when 60 people were
killed. This year, it erupted between January and February and
was spewing ash around 75 metres-1,000 meters from the peak.
Authorities raised the alert to the second-highest level and
prohibited residents from going within 3 km of the crater.
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 morning prompted the search to be
temporarily suspended for a few hours. The eruption spewed
volcanic ash around 800 meters high.
Indonesia sits on the Pacific's so-called "Ring of Fire" and has
127 active volcanoes, according to the volcanology agency.
(Reporting by Ananda Teresia; Editing by Martin Petty and
Bernadette Baum)
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