How Indonesia’s Mount Dukono tragedy mobilised a village - and left it scarred

MAMUYA, North Maluku: Just a few days ago, Mamuya - a small village in Indonesia’s North Maluku - pulsed with the activity of 150 military and civilian rescuers. 

For three days they shuttled between a command centre along Mamuya’s main road and a base camp at the foot of Mount Dukono, some 10km away, where three hikers including two Singaporeans had died following the volcano’s eruption.

But after the bodies of the three were evacuated from the slopes, the operation wound down and the makeshift command post has since returned to its original function as a Dukono volcanology observation office.

The senior officials who once frequented the site - issuing orders and holding press briefings - have returned to their offices hundreds of kilometres away in the cities of Ternate and Ambon.

What remains for the locals who volunteered in the rescue effort are the memories of a weekend when this remote village stood at the centre of a crisis unfolding beneath one of Indonesia’s most restless volcanoes.

“I have never seen bodies like that,” 42-year-old Mamuya resident Jabir Abdul told CNA of seeing the remains of two of the victims. “I still get chills just talking about them. It was terrifying.”  

Jabir is one of around 30 locals who joined the rescue operation.

Every morning, they were among the first to hike the mountain and some of the few people brave enough to get near the still fuming crater where the bodies of Indonesian Angel Krishela Pradita, 28 and two Singaporeans: Timothy Heng Wen Qiang, 30, and Shahin Muhrez Abdul Hamid, 27 were buried beneath layers of fiery volcanic ash. 

The three were among 20 hikers who were on the slopes of Dukono when a massive eruption occurred on Friday morning. 

While the other 17 made it out back to base camp, Angel’s lifeless body was discovered on Saturday afternoon, while Heng and Shahin’s were located on Sunday morning. 

Various rescue units, including the National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas), described the locals as instrumental. 

Because the locals regularly work as manual labourers in plantations and construction sites, their stamina, strength and familiarity with the surroundings were key contributions to the rescue efforts, said authorities. 

“They are very important because they are familiar with the environment. They have local knowledge that enables them to understand the situation, condition and especially the characteristics of Mount Dukono,” Iwan Ramdani, chief of the local office of Basarnas, who was leading the operation, told CNA.

“They are very enthusiastic about helping our operations. Even people who don’t participate directly in finding the victims, help out with logistics, transportation and so on.”

A SHOCK TO THE COMMUNITY

On May 8, Dukono erupted violently, sending a thick plume of ash 10,000m into the atmosphere, making it one of the volcano’s biggest eruptions in recorded history.

According to data from the Indonesian Volcanology and Geological Disaster Mitigation Centre (PVMBG) past eruptions have rarely expelled ash of more than 1,000m in height since 1933 when such measurement began.  

“Even we locals who are used to seeing Dukono erupting were taken aback by the (May 8) eruption,” said Jabir. 

When 17 people emerged from Dukono’s slopes to report that three of their friends were missing, locals had a hunch that this would not be a normal search and rescue mission but one of recovery.

“This is the first time someone died on the slopes of Dukono. This time we had three dying in one single eruption. This comes as a huge shock for us locals,” Mamuya native Sababil Pasaraja, 29, who also took part in the rescue effort, told CNA.

Scouring the slopes for missing climbers is familiar territory for him and fellow residents. 

Every time a hiker went missing on Mount Dukono in the past, Basarnas would ask locals to participate in search and rescue efforts. Almost all of the locals treated Dukono as their backyard, with intimate knowledge of every ridge, forest path and obstacle. 

The last time locals assisted in a search and rescue operation was in 2017, when a then-17-year-old boy was separated from his peers and got lost. He was found more than 24 hours later.

Locals were also asked to comb the slopes of Dukono after major eruptions in case there were hikers stranded or in need of rescue like what they did in August of 2024 and March 2026. 

“Whenever Basarnas needs us, the villagers are very eager to help. Sometimes they can’t arrive quickly, so they ask us to head up first,” Sababil told CNA.

The volcano is extremely active and has had “elevated or abnormal activity” since 2008, forcing authorities to impose a 2km radius ban on all activities on the slopes of Mount Dukono from that year. But the ban did not stop hikers and thrill seekers from climbing the volcano and getting close to its crater.

“Dukono has two official entrances, one in Mamuya and the other in (neighbouring village) Ruko. But there are countless ways hikers can use to get to the mountain,” said Sababil.

Because of increased volcanic activity, Dukono’s alert status was upgraded to the second highest of four levels on Apr 17 and the ban radius was raised to 4km, effectively barring everyone from entering the mountain entirely.

UNFORGIVING CONDITION

Despite knowing the volcano like the back of their hands, rescuers like Jabir and Sababil still had to navigate through rough and unforgiving terrain, with stretches of slippery foot paths made worse by rain and volcanic debris.

The good news was rescuers knew where to look because one of the missing climbers had activated a personal locator beacon which sent out distress signals. But the bad news was the signal was coming from less than 50m from the edge of the still volatile crater.

“The volcano was still erupting and ejecting hot ash and rocks the size of cars. It was really nerve-wracking,” Hambali Diadi, 42, another Mamuya resident who was on the frontline of the search operation, told CNA. 

The heightened volcanic activity meant that rescuers had to rush in and out of the hazardous zone each time there was a lull in Dukono’s near continuous eruptions. 

Even when the coast was clear, rescuers said they had a hard time looking for clues of the victims' exact whereabouts as thick volcanic ash had coloured everything a murky grey. 

Despite the odds stacked against them, rescuers were able to locate the first victim, Angel, on Saturday. “We scanned the slope and noticed a human-shaped outline in the sands. After we brushed the sand off ... it was indeed the missing female victim,” Hambali said. 

Rescuers originally planned to keep pushing to find the other two on Saturday but the volcano erupted again, forcing them to retreat. 

The rescuers returned the following morning to pick up where they had left off.

“Thankfully the mountain was not as active as (Saturday) and we were able to find the other two victims,” Jabir said. 

Rescuers said they retrieved bone fragments pinned underneath a boulder rock, matching the testimonies provided by survivors who last saw the two being crushed by volcanic material ejected from the belly of Dukono. 

The mountain’s volcanic activity may have eased on Sunday, but the weather was another story. 

“It was pouring so hard, we had to tell our rescuers to take shelter,” Iwan of Basarnas said.   

After a slippery journey back to the command centre, Basarnas officially ended the search operation and declared all three hikers found.

“WE WON’T LET IT HAPPEN AGAIN”

The rescue operation brought the entire village together, including those who were unable to be at the frontline. 

“We all helped in whatever way that we could,” said 35-year-old Gulit Sanda, one of several farmers from Mamuya transporting equipment, food and supplies using his three-wheeled cargo motorcycle. 

Equipped with deep treaded tires, the three-wheeler, known in Mamuya as Viar, is one of the few vehicles able to navigate the bumpy and slippery dirt road leading to basecamp.

Gulit said that the accident left a deep scar in the community, particularly since they felt they could have stopped the climbers from entering.

“We saw the hikers arriving a day before the (May 8) eruption. They even hired some locals to take them to basecamp using their three-wheelers,” he said. 

Police are investigating possible criminal negligence and have so far questioned six people including the tour guide on the trip, Reza Selang. 

Reza, who was also one of the survivors in the eruption, said he was not aware that a ban on climbing Dukono had been in place since Apr 17. 

“Before we climbed, I personally flew a drone to check the condition of the crater and it was placid,” Reza told CNA. 

“I would like to extend my condolences to the victims’ family and ask them to accept my apology. I will take full responsibility. I will cooperate fully with the police investigation.”

Police are banning Reza, who originally hails from the neighbouring island of Ternate, from leaving North Halmahera. 

But locals told CNA they also felt the weight of the incident fall on them. 

“Among many in the community, there is a lingering sense of responsibility, an uneasy feeling that perhaps something could have been done differently,” Hambali said 

“This tragedy could have been avoided. After this, the whole community will come together to figure out how to make sure it never happens again. We can’t keep tolerating hikers who ignore travel bans and restrictions, let alone helping them.”