12 missing on Mt. Merapi

PADANG, West Sumatra: Twelve young mountain climbers have been missing on Mount Merapi since Saturday, a rescue official said on Wednesday.

Search and rescue coordinator Rizanto Algamar said six teams of rescue workers had been deployed to search for the high school students, four of which are girls.

"We're worried because it has been reported that the climbers had supplies sufficient only for one day. They should have stayed only one night up there," Rizanto told The Jakarta Post.

He said the young climbers were supposed to return on Sunday to Simabur village in Batusangkar at the foot of the volcano.

It is believed that the climbers became lost in the forest on an alternative track locally called hutan bunian, where there are deep ravines and various types of trees that can cause a climber to become disorientated and back track.

Rizanto identified only four of the missing climbers: Yunafsin and Rahmat Hidayat of Batusangkar, Sutan Indra Gusmansyah of Padang and Frengky of Payakumbuh.

Yunafsin's father Zurvin Zurbin, who is head of Sungayang subdistrict in Batusangkar, said his son scaled the mountain without his school's consent.

Local police and schools had earlier warned students not to climb the volcano due to the arrival of the rainy season. (28/edt)