Nearly 700 people are trapped on a volcano on the popular Indonesian tourist island of Lombok, after a devastating earthquake killed more than a dozen people.
A rescue operation is currently underway for tourists caught in landslides on Mount Rinjani. According to National Disaster Management Agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, 689 people are still trapped on and around the 3,726 meter (12,224 ft) mountain following the shallow 6.4-magnitude earthquake that struck Sunday morning.
At least 260 people had already been evacuated by Sunday afternoon, Sutopo said on Twitter, while a spokesman for Rinjani National Park said another 109 had been rescued as of 2 p.m. local time (3 a.m. ET) Monday afternoon. 149 climbers are still believed to be stranded on the volcano itself, while 500 people are trapped in Sembalun Village on the volcano’s slopes, and an additional 40 tourists are in nearby Batu Ceper.
At least one climber had died after being struck by falling rocks, Sutopo said.
A rescue team of 184 people set off Monday morning to evacuate the hikers, including special military, police and medical teams.
So far 15 people across the island have been reported dead following the earthquake, while another 162 have been reported injured, according to Indonesia’s National Disaster Management Agency.
