Three hikers were killed in an eruption on Mount Dukono, a 1273 m high volcano on the northern part of Halmahera Island, Indonesia, on Friday 8 May 2026. The three were part of a group of 20 Indonesian and Singaporean hikers which had trekked up the volcano under the leadership of Indonesian tour guide Reza Selang. The hike was undertaken despite a prohibition on climbing the volcano which had been in place since 17 April, due to a high level of volcanic activity. However, Selang claims he was unaware of this prohibition, and was not made aware of it by local villagers he employs as assistants. Local authorities, meanwhile, claim to have posted warnings on social media and place banners at the entrance to trails leading to the volcano.
The group ascended the volcano early in the morning, with Selang sending a drone to the volcano's summit to check for volcanic activity, before sending up a group of fourteen hikers under the leadership of Singaporean tour organiser Timothy Heng, who had booked the trip through Selang last year, while Selang remained lower down with the remainder of the group. At about 7.40 Selang sent his drone up again to check on the group, when the volcano underwent two explosive eruptions in rapid succession, the first producing only smoke, but the second ejecting large volumes of ash, rock, and other debris.
The group on the mountain scattered and ran downhill in response to this, though Selang reports seeing one man, Singaporean Shahin Muhrez bin Abdul Hamid lying on the ground near the crater. He states that he then ascended the summit along with Heng, who had escaped the initial blast, with the two of them attempting to rescue the injured man. During this attempt both Singaporeans were hit and killed by a large rock, with only Selang escaping.
Selang and the majority of the group made it back to the base of the mountain, where they discovered another person was missing, Indonesian Angel Krishela Pradita. They then notified the local authorities, who sent out a rescue team, who later recovered the bodies of all three missing hikers. The survivors were treated for injuries at a local hospital.
Dukono is one of Indonesia's most active volcanoes, having been erupting more-or-less continuously since 1933. Eruptions most frequently take the form of ash explosions and sulphur dioxide plumes, with lave flows also being reasonably common. The volcano also went a major eruptive phase in the mid sixteenth century, as well as shorter episodes in the eighteenth, nineteenth, and early twentieth centuries.
The Halmahera Islands arc a volcanic arc; formed where one tectonic plate is being subducted beneath another, with the underlying plate being melted by the heat of the Earth's interior, and lighter minerals bubbling up through the overlying plate to form volcanoes. However the Halmahera Islands are unusual in that they lie on a double subduction zone. The underlying plate, a northeaster extension of the Molucca Plate, is being overridden form the Philippine Plate from the east and the Eurasian Plate from the west. The Halmahera volcanoes are located where the Philippine Plate is overriding the Molucca Plate; to the west the Sangihe Islands lie where the Molucca Plate is being overridden by the Eurasian Plate.
See also...
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
