Indonesia's Mount Marapi volcano eruption claims 22 lives

Mount Marapi on the island of Sumatra spewed an ash tower 3,000 metres (9,800 feet) -- taller than the volcano itself -- into the sky on Sunday.

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​The death toll from a volcano eruption in Indonesia has risen to 22 after nine more bodies were discovered, a search and rescue agency official told AFP on Tuesday.

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The volcano was still erupting as of midday on Tuesday, according to officials, slowing the rescue efforts of more than 200 personnel.

A rescue team in orange jackets and hard hats carrying a body down the side of the volcano on Tuesday. The dead were carried down the mountain in bodybags over several days, rescue officials said.



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Indonesia experiences frequent seismic and volcanic activity due to its position on the Pacific "Ring of Fire", where tectonic plates collide.

​Some of the 75 hikers on the mountain during the eruption were found alive and carried down, with multiple suffering burns and fractures.

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One survivor spoke of his panic after the eruption began. "I was zig-zagging, going down around 30 to 40 metres" to a trekking post, Ridho, 22, told AFP from a bed in a nearby hospital.

Locals described the carnage when the volcano burst to life on Sunday. "The villagers were shocked because of the thundering noise, then there was a jolt and also a boom," said Adrizal, head of local village Nagari Lasi. "The villagers were very traumatised by the eruption."

Photo: Family members carry the body of Mount Marapi eruption victim in Bandar Buat.

Those killed were severely burned and forensic workers were preparing to identify the dead by dental and fingerprint records, or based on marks on their bodies, said Eka Purnamasari, an official from the West Sumatra police medical unit.

Mount Marapi, which means "Mountain of Fire", is the most active volcano on Sumatra island and one of the archipelago's nearly 130 active volcanoes.