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Survivor of Indonesia’s Marapi eruption vows she will never hike again: ‘I don’t want to’
- First-time hike Tita Cahyani is being treated for extensive burns after escaping spewing rock and ash from the erupting Marapi volcano this weekend
- Marapi’s eruption on Sunday was its third so far this year, and the deadliest since 1979
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Tita Cahyani is lucky to be alive. The 24-year-old first-time hiker was on her way down from the peak of Indonesia’s Marapi volcano when it started to spew acrid smoke, rocks and ash in an eruption that ultimately killed 23 climbers.
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“I’m scared and I don’t want to do it again,” said Cahyani, who is being treated for extensive burns at a hospital in Padang Panjang, a city in Western Sumatra province around 40km (25 miles) from the volcano.
The 2,891-metre (9,485ft) high Marapi is one of the most active volcanoes in Indonesia, which straddles the so-called “Ring of Fire” tectonic belt that is home to about two-thirds of the world’s total number of volcanoes.
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Survivor recalls frantic escape as 23 feared dead after Indonesia volcano eruption
Survivor recalls frantic escape as 23 feared dead after Indonesia volcano eruption
Marapi’s eruption on Sunday was its third so far this year, and the deadliest since 1979.
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Fifty-two people survived the eruption, including Cahyani and her friend Widya Azhamul Fadhilah who took shelter behind a huge rock on the side of the volcano as the ground shook and the air filled with sulphurous fumes that made it hard to breathe.
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