By The Straits Times | Created at 2026-06-08 06:10:18 | Updated at 2026-06-08 17:41:55
11 hours ago
JAKARTA - The Indonesian government has stepped up monitoring tourism activities at volcanoes across the country following a fatal incident during Mount Dukono’s eruption in May that resulted in the deaths of three people, including two Singaporeans.
The Tourism Ministry is prioritising tightening supervision and coordination with relevant agencies, including the National Search and Rescue Agency, to improve response time and operational effectiveness.
The ministry will also coordinate with the management agencies of natural tourist destinations to tighten supervision at the starting point of hiking trails located at volcanoes.
The moves are aimed at ensuring no visitors can enter a mountain when it is put in the waspada (advisory) or siaga (watch) warning status, or level II and III of Indonesia’s four-tiered volcano alert system.
Officials are also slated to audit tour guides to ensure compliance with regulations, and refrain from accommodating tourists seeking to approach hazardous zones in volcanoes for any reason including documentation or content creation.
Such measures were launched after the deaths of two Singaporean nationals and a local tourist at Mount Dukono in North Halmahera, North Maluku, when it erupted on May 8. The incident, according to the Tourism Ministry, cast a shadow over Indonesia’s tourism sector.
“This is a major tragedy for our tourism sector. We deeply regret the breach of a designated danger zone,” the ministry wrote in a statement, as quoted by Antara. “We hope this serves as a final, hard lesson for all tourism stakeholders.”
With an elevation of about 1,087m, Dukono is regarded as one of Indonesia’s most persistently active volcanoes.
On May 8, it erupted and unleashed an ash plume that reached 10km into the sky. The eruption was also accompanied by tremors that lasted approximately 16 minutes.
During the eruption, 20 hikers were on the volcano, including nine Singaporeans, despite authorities having prohibited all hiking activities since mid-April amid an observed rise in seismic activities.
Volcanic authorities maintained a waspada warning status for Mount Dukono and banned any activities within 4 km of the crater.
Two Singaporean hikers and a female Indonesian hiker died during the incident. The bodies of the Singaporeans were recovered around 550m from Dukono’s summit two days after the eruption.
The case attracted nationwide attention and intensified scrutiny of negligent practices, with authorities highlighting lapses in enforcement and compliance from local guides in restricted zones of an active volcano.
The police later named a local guide identified as Reza Selang as a suspect for taking visitors to the volcano despite warnings from authorities to stay away from Dukono. He also allegedly did not coordinate with Dukono’s monitoring posts for the trips.
Investigators charged Reza with Article 474 Paragraph 3 of the Criminal Code on negligence resulting in deaths, which carries a maximum punishment of five years in prison and a 500 million rupiah (S$36,000) fine.
Indonesia is home to more than 120 active volcanoes, many of which are popular tourism destinations, such as Mount Bromo in East Java and Mount Rinjani in West Nusa Tenggara.
The Dukono incident is not the only case in which hikers died after being on a volcano when it erupted.
In December 2023, 24 hikers died and 12 others were injured when Mount Marapi in West Sumatra erupted. Officials reportedly still issued hiking permits despite warnings from volcanologists about a potential eruption, allowing at least 75 hikers to climb the volcano the day it erupted. THE JAKARTA POST/ASIA NEWS NETWORK
