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Indonesia: Mount Marapi volcano eruption leaves 22 dead

Rescuers to resume ops for the missing person on Wednesday

Rescuers carry the body of a victim of the eruption of Mount Marapi in Batu Palano, West Sumatra, Indonesia | AP

The death toll from Indonesia's Marapi volcano eruption has left 22 people dead with rescuers finding more bodies near the crater. As per the rescuers, one person is still missing.

According to West Sumatra rescue agency, which is leading the operations, about 200 rescuers will resume the search operations on Wednesday.

"We are now evacuating the dead bodies from the peak of the volcano," said the head of the search and rescue team, Abdul Malik.

Marapi is one of the 127 active volcanoes in Indonesia. There were 75 climbers on the volcano when it erupted, rescuers said.

Among one of the videos that circulated involved Zhafirah Zahrim Febrina. A 19-year-old girl, who appealed to her mother for help in a video message from the volcano. In the video, she was seen with burnt face and hair matted with grey ash.

She was hiking along with 18 school friends and is now in hospital receiving treatment.

In 1979, the deadly volcano eruption had claimed 60 lives. Since 2011, Indonesia's volcanology agency has urged a local conservation agency and the environment ministry in monthly letters to close an area within 3 kilometres' radius of the summit to climbers, agency head Hendra Gunawan told Reuters.

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