Dutch tourist killed by lava

YOGYAKARTA: A Dutch tourist was killed and his brother injured in a rainfall of lava as they were hiking on the volatile Mt. Merapi volcano north of here on Saturday.

An official at the volcano's research agency, A. Ratdomopurbo, said Pieter Willem Hendrik Hoyer, 32, died in the incident which took place along the Senowo River basin. Ricardo Roberto Hoyer, 28, was rushed to the state hospital in Muntilan, Central Java, with serious injuries.

"Both tourists took the risk of climbing the volcano above the safety zone, which does not extend above the monitoring station," Ratdomopurbo told The Jakarta Post.

He said his office kept the public informed of the latest developments with the volcano on a weekly basis, and called on tourists and local residents not to climb the volcano even though its alert status had been reduced.

A local resident, Gino, 70, said he had warned both tourists against climbing the mountain above the volcano's monitoring post at Klatakan.

"He (referring to Hendrik) insisted on trying to collect basketball-sized rocks for souvenirs before the incident took place," Gino said.