Only the lower half of her body was visible above the ash
On the slopes of Mount Dukono in Indonesia's North Maluku province, two Singaporean hikers remain missing after the volcano erupted on May 8, burying the landscape in ash, hot rocks, and volcanic debris. One Indonesian woman has already been found dead near the crater rim, her body half-submerged in volcanic sand — a quiet testament to the indifference of natural forces. A group of twenty hikers had entered the mountain in defiance of a climbing ban and an exclusion zone, and now 150 rescue personnel contend with rain, flooding, and an intermittently erupting volcano to recover what the mountain has taken. It is a story as old as human ambition meeting the earth's own timeline.
- Two Singaporean hikers are believed buried beneath volcanic sand mounds just 3 meters from where a dead woman was recovered — rescuers can see the location but cannot yet reach it.
- Mount Dukono continues to erupt intermittently, raining hot ash on the same slopes where 150 personnel are attempting a recovery operation.
- Heavy rain, flash flooding, and deep mud have made the approach road impassable, forcing even a motorcycle journalist to turn back 5 kilometers short of the village.
- Rescue teams reached within 1 kilometer of the crater before being driven back to a shelter by flooding, with GPS coordinates now marking the targets they cannot yet touch.
- Seven of the nine Singaporean hikers were evacuated and were en route home on May 10, while the fate of the remaining two grows more uncertain with each passing hour.
The rain fell hard through the night, and by dawn on May 10 the dirt road to Mount Dukono had turned to mud and flood. A joint Indonesian rescue team pressed on regardless — two Singaporean hikers were still missing on the volcano's slopes after it erupted on the morning of May 8, showering climbers near the summit with hot rocks, ash, and volcanic debris.
The approach from Mamuya village covers roughly 10 kilometers of dense forest and rough tracks. On May 10, even that proved too much: a journalist traveling by motorcycle had to turn back 5 kilometers out, and rescue teams who reached Post 5 — just 1 kilometer from the crater — were forced to retreat to shelter by flooding. Still, a Brimob communications officer confirmed that rescuers had visually located the two missing Singaporeans. They simply could not reach them.
The search had narrowed to a specific and grim address: two small mounds of volcanic sand, 3 meters from where an Indonesian woman had been found dead the previous afternoon. Her body was discovered around 2:30 p.m. on May 9, visible only from the waist down above the ash after rain briefly eased. More than a dozen rescuers carried her remains down the mountain on a stretcher, picking their way over fallen logs and slick volcanic soil.
Basarnas, Indonesia's national rescue agency, had deployed 150 personnel across four units, searching an area extending 1.25 kilometers from where the hikers were last seen. GPS coordinates now marked the two sand mounds. The head of the Ternate rescue office said he hoped to find the missing hikers by the third day — but acknowledged that the volcano was still erupting intermittently, and that the safety of his teams had to come first.
The group of 20 — nine Singaporeans and 11 Indonesians — had trekked on May 7 in defiance of a climbing ban in place since April 17 and a 4-kilometer exclusion zone around the crater. Seven of the Singaporean hikers had already been evacuated and were heading home to Singapore on May 10. For the two still missing, and for the Indonesian woman already recovered, the warnings had come too late.
The rain came hard through the night, and by dawn on May 10, the narrow dirt road to Mount Dukono had become impassable. A joint Indonesian search and rescue team set out anyway, knowing that two Singaporean hikers were still missing somewhere on the volcano's slopes after it erupted two days earlier, on the morning of May 8. The mountain had showered climbers near the summit with hot rocks, ash, and volcanic debris. Now, rescuers faced not just the volcano itself, but the landscape it had created—and the weather that refused to cooperate.
The journey from Mamuya village to Mount Dukono's foot covers roughly 10 kilometers through dense forest and plantations, accessible mainly by rough dirt tracks. On May 10, even that proved too much. A journalist traveling by motorcycle with The Straits Times had to turn back about 5 kilometers from the village when flooding and thick mud made the road impassable. Higher up the mountain, conditions were no better. The rescue team reached Post 5, just 1 kilometer from the crater, but heavy rain and flooding forced them to retreat to a shelter. Mochamad Thilio, a Tobelo officer from Indonesia's Brimob police mobile brigade coordinating communications with the team, confirmed that rescuers had visually located the two missing Singaporeans but could not yet reach them.
The search had narrowed to a grimly specific location: two small mounds of volcanic sand near the crater, just 3 meters from where an Indonesian woman had been found dead the previous afternoon. That discovery had come around 2:30 p.m. on May 9, after hours of rescuers combing through deep volcanic sand in heavy rain. When the downpour finally eased, only the lower half of the woman's body—from her feet to her waist—was visible above the ash. The remains were recovered and carried down the mountain on a stretcher by more than a dozen rescuers moving carefully over fallen logs and slick volcanic soil, their orange helmets bright against the moss-covered trees and giant ferns of the forest.
Indonesia's search and rescue agency, Basarnas, had deployed 150 personnel divided into four units, combing an area extending about 1.25 kilometers from the point where the hikers were last seen. The operation on May 10 focused on the crater rim, with officials using Global Positioning System coordinates to mark the two sand mounds where the missing hikers were suspected to be buried. Iwan Ramdani, head of the Ternate search and rescue office, said the team hoped to find the two foreign nationals by the third day of the operation. But he acknowledged the brutal reality: rescuers were working under dangerous conditions as the volcano continued to erupt intermittently, producing hot ash and other material. The safety of the rescue team remained the priority, he said, even as the search grew more urgent.
The hikers had been part of a group of 20—nine Singaporeans and 11 Indonesians—who trekked on May 7 despite a climbing ban imposed by local authorities on April 17. They had also ignored a 4-kilometer no-go exclusion zone around the crater, which volcanologists had expanded from 3 kilometers in 2024. Seven of the Singaporean hikers had been evacuated and were on their way to Jakarta on May 10, expected to return to Singapore that same day. But for the two still missing, and for the Indonesian woman whose remains had been recovered, the mountain had exacted a price that no warning could have prevented once the eruption began.
Notable Quotes
The safety of the rescue team remains the priority because weather conditions and volcanic activity continue to produce hot ash and other material— Iwan Ramdani, head of Ternate search and rescue office
We hope the two foreign nationals can be found on the third day of this operation— Iwan Ramdani, head of Ternate search and rescue office
The Hearth Conversation Another angle on the story
Why did the rescue team keep going back up the mountain if conditions were so dangerous?
Because two people were still up there, possibly alive. The team had visually confirmed their location. You don't stop searching because the weather is bad—you stop when the volcano itself becomes too active, or when you've exhausted every possibility.
The article mentions they ignored a climbing ban and an exclusion zone. Does that change how we think about the rescue?
It complicates things morally, perhaps, but not operationally. Once people are in danger, the question of whether they should have been there becomes secondary. The rescue team's job is to bring them home.
What struck you most about the description of finding the first victim?
The image of her body half-buried in volcanic sand, visible only from the feet to the waist. That detail captures something about the violence of the eruption—how quickly and completely it can bury a person.
Why focus so much on the mud and rain if the volcano is the real threat?
Because the mud and rain are what made the rescue nearly impossible. The volcano erupts in moments. The mud is what keeps rescuers from reaching people for hours, days. It's the difference between a disaster and a tragedy that could have been prevented.
Do we know if the two missing hikers are likely to be found alive?
The article doesn't say. The search focused on two sand mounds 3 meters from where the woman was found dead. That proximity suggests they may have been caught in the same eruption. But rescue teams don't stop hoping until they have to.