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Singapore/Jakarta: Journalists covering the eruption of Mount Anak Krakatau in Indonesia are among eight people missing in the Sunda Strait after trying to get closer to the scene in a speedboat.
The five journalists and three boat crew left the island of Java shortly after 2pm Indonesian time on Monday as travel chaos from volcanic ash intensified across Indonesian airports.
The boat crew’s last contact with the shore was at 2.42pm, when they were about halfway between their departure point and the volcano, according to Basarnas, Indonesia’s search-and-rescue agency.
Al Amrad, a search-and-rescue official, said a passenger on the boat made contact with relatives at 6.13pm.
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Colleagues who attempted to contact missing freelance photographer Donal Husni said his phone still appeared to be active at 3pm, though he did not respond.
State-owned news agency Antara reported that one of its journalists, Muhammad Bagus Khoirunas, was among the missing. Two of the others, according to their employers, were Arie Basuki from Merdeka.com and Yudistiro Pranoto from iNews.
Local reports said an Indonesian-based journalist from Turkey’s Anadolu Agency was also on the boat, but this masthead could not find any acknowledgement of him in the company’s reporting over the past two days. It has been contacted for comment.
The eruption caused airport closures on Sunday and Monday that disrupted about 2960 flights, including 622 international services, and affected about 341,000 passengers.
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The Indonesian government told schools in affected areas to shift temporarily to online learning to reduce students’ exposure to ash.
By Tuesday night, all airports had reopened.
“We are urging officials to intensify the search for the group,” Antara president Benny Siga Butarbutar told his outlet. “We have deployed a dedicated team to ensure communication lines with search teams remain uninterrupted.”
Basarnas resumed the search at 7am on Wednesday with two boats. Other teams had been sent from the navy, water police and non-government organisations, the agency said.
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Anak Krakatau, which means “child of Krakatau”, emerged from the remains of the massive 1883 eruption that killed more than 36,000 people and triggered a period of global cooling.
An eruption there in 2018 caused a tsunami that killed at least 430 people on the large islands of Sumatra and Java.
Anak Krakatau has been at Indonesia’s second-highest alert level since July. Authorities have advised residents, tourists and fishermen to stay at least three kilometres from the active crater.
With AP
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Zach Hope is South-East Asia correspondent. He is a former reporter at the Brisbane Times.Connect via email.Karuni Rompies is assistant Indonesia correspondent for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.Connect via X.AdvertisementAdvertisement