The West Nusa Tenggara Disaster Mitigation Agency (BPBD NTB) has called on representatives of foreign countries in Indonesia to file a report with authorities if they have citizens still missing in the climbing area of Mount Rinjani in Lombok, NTB.
The agency made such a request following reports that 44 tourists climbing Mt Rinjani had not yet returned after its sub-volcano, Mt Barujari, erupted on Sept.27.
“We ask all foreign embassies to file a report if there is any citizen still reported missing. We will follow it up,” BPBD NTB head Muhammad Rum told journalists on Friday.
He said the result of the latest data collection, jointly commissioned by the BPBD and the Mt Rinjani National Park (TNGR), revealed the number of trekkers and tourists registered entering Rinjani climbing trails from Senaru in North Lombok and Sembalun in East Lombok reached 464 people from Sept.25 to 27. They comprised 408 foreigners and 58 local tourists.
As of Thursday evening, only 420 people were recorded to have returned through those two entrance points.
“So, 44 people have not yet been registered descending from Mt Rinjani,” Rum said.
He said it was possible that the climbers had returned, but had not yet been recorded. “It is also probable that they have returned through small routes so their returns were not recorded at those two official entrances.”
When Mt Barujari erupted on Tuesday, it was recorded that 140 tourists, comprising 132 foreign citizens and eight local tourists, were climbing Mt.Rinjani.
They are mostly from European countries, such as Bulgaria, France, Germany, the Netherlands and the UK, and others are from India.
