An active volcano erupted on a remote island in Indonesia Friday morning, killing three hikers and injuring several others, officials said.
Mount Dukono on Halmahera, the largest island in the North Maluku province, erupted around 7:40 a.m. local time, sending a column of ash more than six miles into the sky, according to North Halmahera Police Chief Erlichson Pasaribu.
Pasaribu said 20 hikers had been on the more than 4,000-foot-tall mountain at the time of the eruption, including nine foreign nationals and eleven Indonesian citizens, adding that the climbers had entered a restricted area despite ongoing safety warnings.
"The victims' remains are still located near the summit and have not yet been evacuated, as intermittent eruptions are still occurring," Pasaribu said.
Other hiking groups were on Mount Dukono when the eruption occurred. One guide, who was climbing the mountain with two clients, told BBC Indonesia that he saw two other groups near the edge of the crater shortly before the eruption, which he described as being "very strong."
"I heard deep tremors. So I decided to immediately descend with the guests," he told the publication. "And in the end, the three of us were safe."
Indonesia sits within the "Ring of Fire," a horseshoe-shaped region in the Pacific Ocean that experiences high volcanic and seismic activity due to the convergence of several tectonic plates.
Following the recent eruption, authorities have renewed warnings for residents, tourists, and hikers to stay at least 2.5 miles away from Mount Dukono's active summit crater, Malupang Warirang.