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Hundreds of hikers trapped on Indonesian mountain after landslide

More than 500 hikers are stranded on an Indonesian mountain popular with tourists after a powerfu...
Newstalk
Newstalk

10.29 30 Jul 2018


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Hundreds of hikers trapped on...

Hundreds of hikers trapped on Indonesian mountain after landslide

Newstalk
Newstalk

10.29 30 Jul 2018


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More than 500 hikers are stranded on an Indonesian mountain popular with tourists after a powerful earthquake caused a landslide.

Food has been dropped from the air for the hikers, who are from a number of different countries, as helicopters and search teams try to help them down Mount Rinjani.

Masses of mud and rock broke free when the 6.4-magnitude quake hit the Indonesian island of Lombok on Sunday and now the hikers have no safe way down.

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"There are still 560 people trapped," said the head of Rinjani national park.

Officials said hikers from France, the US, the Netherlands, Germany and Thailand, and other countries are among those trapped.

"For supplies, they can still survive for another one to two days," said search and rescue spokesman Agus Hendra Sanjaya.

Eight hundred people were registered to climb the mountain on Sunday and officials said about 300 made it down after the quake.

Villagers walk near destroyed homes at Sajang village, Sembalun, East Lombok, Indonesia, 29-07-2018 | Image: Rosidin/AP/Press Association Images

None of the hikers left on the 12,224ft mountain - an active volcano that is the second-tallest in Indonesia - are believed to be hurt.

At least 16 people were killed on the island when the quake hit. There were also two secondary quakes and more than 100 aftershocks.

Hundreds of buildings were also destroyed and some 160 people injured.

The epicentre was 50km outside the main city of Mataram and had a depth of 7km, the US Geological Survey said.

There were reports it was also felt in Bali, but there were no reports of damage there.

Indonesia's president, Joko Widodo, visited the area on Monday and promised money for people who had lost their homes.

"We must be aware that our country is in the Ring of Fire, so people need to be prepared to face any disaster," he said.

The Ring of Fire is an area in the Pacific Ocean where the Earth's tectonic plates collide, making it a hotspot for earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.


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