Indonesia deploys 300 rescuers to search for eight missing, including 5 journalists, near Anak Krakatau

Indonesian authorities have deployed about 300 personnel to search for eight people, including five journalists, missing at sea while travelling to cover the eruption of the Anak Krakatau volcano, officials said.

The group was aboard a speedboat that lost contact after leaving Carita, a coastal town in Banten province, for the volcanic island. Al Amrad, chief of the Banten Search and Rescue Office, said the missing include five photojournalists, two crew members of a boat and a route guide.

The last contact with the boat was received Monday evening, when a relative of a journalist was told the group had entered waters near Anak Krakatau, officials said. Search teams are widening their search for the missing group around the Sunda Strait with ships and other equipment.

Indonesia’s Geology Agency said Anak Krakatau erupted for about 25 hours continuously over the weekend and has continued to erupt intermittently, spewing lava, ash and other volcanic material from its crater.

Authorities have set up a 3-kilometre exclusion zone around the volcano due to ongoing activity. The eruption has also disrupted air travel, forcing the temporary closure of airports and the cancelation of thousands of flights.

After the catastrophic 1883 Krakatau eruption, Anak Krakatau rose from the sea. In 2018, Anak Krakatau erupted, causing a tsunami that killed hundreds of people.