Eyewitness video by a tour guide showed an Indonesian volcano spewing a huge plume of smoke and ash into the sky on Friday (May 8) while he scrambled down the side of the mountain with the two hikers with him.

Mount Dukono, located in North Maluku province, erupted on Friday at 07:41 a.m. local time (2241 GMT Thursday), spewing volcanic ash as high as 10 km (6.21 miles) into the sky, the country's volcanology agency said.

The huge cloud of smoke and hot ash doubled in size as the group made their way down the slopes, and the guide was heard saying that there were still a lot of tourists at the top of the volcano.

The location of the video was verified by terrain in video which matched terrain data visuals. The shape and colour of the ash cloud also matched corroborating video from May 8, seen in edit 8835-INDONESIA-VOLCANO/UGC. The date was verified as Indonesia's volcanology agency confirmed the eruption on May 8

A local rescue agency official told Reuters Indonesian authorities are still trying to locate three missing hikers after rescuing 17 people trapped by the eruption.

DESCRIPCIÓN DE IMÁGENES

NORTH HALMAHERA REGENCY, NORTH MALUKU, INDONESIA (MAY 8, 2026) (ORIGINALLY FILMED IN PORTRAIT) (ALEKSIUS DJANGU - No resales / No archive / Must on-screen courtesy Aleksius Djangu)

1. HIKERS STANDING ON SLOPE OF MOUNT DUKONO AND FILMING AS VOLCANO ERUPTION SENDS HUGE PLUME OF SMOKE AND ASH INTO SKY / HIKERS RUSHING DOWN SLOPE / UPSOUND (ENGLISH) TOUR GUIDE SAYING: "Oh the rock are coming.. Oh it's killed them. Oh my god, they die. They die."

2. HUGE PLUME OF SMOKE AND ASH RISING INTO SKY / HIKERS WALKING DOWN SLOPE / UPSOUND (ENGLISH) TOUR GUIDE SAYING: "Oh my god. It's killed them. Many people up there on the... Oh it's doubled. Oh my god. Dukono eruption guys. Today Friday 8th. We are lucky we already climbed down. Be careful guys. There are still many local tourists. Oh my god."

3. HUGE PLUME OF SMOKE AND ASH RISING INTO SKY / UPSOUND (ENGLISH) TOUR GUIDE SAYING: "Oh I hope they're alive. Dukono always dangerous. When it's really quiet, it means a big eruption is coming. / HIKER ASKING: "You think we're quite safe here?" / TOUR GUIDE SAYING: "We have to move. The ash will fall down on us."

4. HUGE PLUME OF SMOKE AND ASH RISING INTO SKY / UPSOUND (ENGLISH) TOUR GUIDE SAYING: "I hope they're still alive, the local tourists. There's Dukono. When we were there, I already heard the deep eruption. And I made the decision that we have to climb down."