Indonesia's Mount Dukono volcano erupts: Three hikers dead, 10 missing

Mount Dukono volcano on Indonesia's Halmahera Island erupted on May 8, 2026, killing three hikers and leaving two missing from a group of 20 who defied official warnings.

In Short

• A 10-km ash plume erupted from Mount Dukono on Friday morning.
• Three hikers died; the group ignored a 4-km exclusion zone.
• Indonesia has nearly 130 active volcanoes on the Ring of Fire.

A group of 20 hikers was on the slopes of Mount Dukono in North Maluku Province, Indonesia, on the morning of Friday, May 8, 2026, when the earth beneath them turned lethal.

The Malupang Warirang Crater, the active vent at the summit of Mount Dukono on Halmahera Island, exploded with terrifying force.

A towering ash plume, roughly 10 kilometres high, punched into a clear blue sky.

A loud booming sound echoed across the landscape. Thick clouds of ash and smoke drifted northward toward Tobelo City.

The hikers never stood a chance to react.

WHAT IS MOUNT DUKONO, AND WHERE IS IT LOCATED?

Mount Dukono is one of Indonesia's most persistently active volcanoes, sitting on the northern tip of Halmahera Island in North Maluku Province.

It has been erupting almost continuously for decades, making it one of the longest-running active volcanoes in the world. At its summit lies the Malupang Warirang Crater, the volatile, explosive vent that tore open on the morning of May 8, 2026.

WHAT HAPPENED TO THE HIKERS ON MOUNT DUKONO?

Of the 20 hikers on the slopes, which included nine Singaporeans and 11 Indonesians, three have been confirmed dead.

Two were Singaporean nationals; one was an Indonesian from Ternate.

Their bodies remain on the mountain because conditions are still too dangerous for recovery teams to reach them.

Between 15 and 17 hikers have been rescued, some with minor injuries. At least two remain missing, with search operations ongoing.

Rescue teams from the police and emergency services are working through difficult terrain, pausing operations whenever fresh volcanic activity makes it too risky to proceed.

WHY WERE HIKERS EVEN THERE?

This is the troubling part. Mount Dukono had been sitting at Alert Level 2.

Indonesia uses a four-tier system where Level 4 is the most severe, since at least December 2025.

After a sharp rise in seismic activity (underground tremors caused by magma movement), authorities formally closed the area to visitors on April 17, 2026.

Warning signs were put up. A 4-kilometre exclusion zone around the crater was enforced.

Local residents heeded the warnings. Some foreign tourists reportedly did not, venturing up for social media content.

The guide and porter have been detained and may face criminal charges for leading the group into a prohibited zone.

IS INDONESIA AT RISK OF MORE VOLCANIC ERUPTIONS?

Indonesia sits on the Pacific Ring of Fire, a massive horseshoe-shaped belt around the Pacific Ocean where tectonic plates (enormous slabs of the Earth's crust) grind and collide, triggering earthquakes and volcanic eruptions with alarming frequency.

The country has nearly 130 active volcanoes, which is more than almost anywhere else on Earth.

On the same day, Japan's Sakurajima volcano also erupted, sending an ash and smoke plume 3,500 metres into the air and hurling volcanic rocks more than 1,300 metres from the summit.

- Ends