Five media personnel lose contact while covering Mount Anak Krakatau eruption in Indonesia

In this drone photo released by the Geological Agency (Badan Geologi) of Indonesia's Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, Mount Anak Krakatau spews volcanic smoke in Sunda Strait, Indonesia, Saturday, Sept 5, 2026. - Photo: AP

JAKARTA: (Bernama) Five Indonesian media personnel reportedly lost contact while covering the eruption of Mount Anak Krakatau near Sebesi Island, Lampung, southern Sumatra, not far from the volcano, Tuesday (Sept 8).

Banten Search and Rescue (SAR) Office Chief Al Amrad said the joint SAR team was still conducting an intensive search operation to locate all the media personnel.

"Search and rescue teams are still searching for the five media personnel who lost contact. As of tonight, there is still no information on whether they have been found,” he said in a statement.

The five media personnel are Muhammad Bagus Khoirunnas from Indonesia’s national news agency Antara; Arie Basuki from news portal Merdeka.com; Yudistiro Pranoto from iNews; Firdaus Wajidi from Türkiye’s Anadolu Agency; and Donal Husni, a freelance journalist.

In addition to the five media personnel, three boat crew members travelling with them - Warta, 55; Surakman, 60; and Heriyanto, 49 - were also unreachable, bringing the total number of missing people on board to eight.

They were reported to have departed from Anyer in Banten, at the western tip of Java Island, on Monday aboard a speedboat bound for the Krakatau area to cover the volcano’s eruptive activity.

Mount Anak Krakatau is located in the Sunda Strait between Java and Sumatra islands and has experienced a series of eruptions over the past few days, causing volcanic ash to spread to several areas in western Indonesia and disrupting flight operations.

According to the latest information, Al Amrad said the last communication with the group was made through Muhammad Bagus, a photographer with Antara’s Banten Bureau, at around 4pm on Monday before they could no longer be contacted.

Following this, he said the National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas) deployed teams to Sebesi Island and the Mount Anak Krakatau area for the search operation Tuesday.

He said SAR teams are searching land and sea areas across Sebesi Island and near Mount Anak Krakatau for any trace of the five media personnel. - Bernama

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Five media personnel lose contact while covering Mount Anak Krakatau eruption in Indonesia

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这张由印度尼西亚能源和矿产资源部地质局发布的无人机照片显示，2026年9月5日星期六，喀拉喀托之子火山在印度尼西亚巽他海峡喷发火山烟雾。——图片：美联社

雅加达：（马新社）据报道，周二（9月8日），五名印尼媒体人员在苏门答腊南部楠榜省塞贝西岛附近报道喀拉喀托之子火山喷发时失去联系，该岛距离火山不远。

万丹省搜救办公室主任阿尔·阿姆拉德表示，联合搜救队仍在进行密集搜寻行动，以找到所有媒体人员。

“搜救队仍在搜寻五名失联的媒体人员。截至今晚，仍没有关于他们是否被找到的消息，”他在一份声明中说。

这五名媒体人员分别是印度尼西亚国家通讯社安塔拉通讯社的穆罕默德·巴古斯·霍伊伦纳斯（Muhammad Bagus Khoirunnas）；来自新闻门户网站 Merdeka.com 的 Arie Basuki； iNews 的尤迪斯蒂罗·普拉诺托 (Yudistiro Pranoto)；来自土耳其阿纳多卢通讯社的 Firdaus Wajidi；多纳尔·胡斯尼 (Donal Husni)，一名自由撰稿人。

除了五名媒体人员外，与他们同行的三名船员——55岁的瓦尔塔、60岁的苏拉克曼和49岁的赫里扬托——也无法联系上，使得船上失踪人员总数达到八人。

据报道，他们于周一从爪哇岛西端的万丹省安耶尔出发，乘坐快艇前往喀拉喀托火山地区，报道该火山的喷发活动。

喀拉喀托之子火山位于爪哇岛和苏门答腊岛之间的巽他海峡，在过去几天里发生了一系列喷发，导致火山灰扩散到印度尼西亚西部多个地区，并扰乱了航班运行。

据最新消息，阿尔阿姆拉德表示，与该组织最后一次取得联系是通过安塔拉通讯社万丹分社的摄影师穆罕默德·巴古斯，时间是周一下午 4 点左右，之后便无法再联系到他们。

随后，他表示，国家搜救机构（Basarnas）已于周二向塞贝西岛和喀拉喀托之子火山地区部署了搜救队，展开搜救行动。

他说，搜救队正在塞贝西岛及喀拉喀托之子火山附近海域和陆地上搜寻五名媒体人员的踪迹。——马新社

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