Indonesia earthquake update: ‘HUNDREDS’ of climbers to be EVACUATED today

A disaster agency official claimed the several hundred trekkers stranded on Mount Rinjani will be evacuated today.

Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, the disaster mitigation agency spokesman, wrote on Twitter that so far rescuers evacuated down 246 people, but the rest were still waiting due to routes not yet passable.

Out of the 820 mountain climbers on Mount Rinjani, Mr Nugroho claimed there are 617 trekkers from abroad.

Asdiyanto, an official at North Lombok Disaster Mitigation Agency said: “The latest information from the team in the field is that today all the families stuck on Mt Rinjani will be evacuated via the Sembalun trail.

“This is being handled by the management team from Mt Rinjani National Park.”

The earthquake hit early in the morning, at about 6.47am local time (11.47pm BST), the United States Geological Survey (USGS) said, at a shallow depth of just 7.5 kilometres.

The tremor’s epicentre was located 30.7 miles north-east of the city of Mataram, which has a population of 319,000.

Scores of people have been injured, while the number of homes damaged is in the thousands.

The quake was so strong its tremors were felt in neighbouring Bali, which sits just 25 miles away.

A Malaysian tourist who was on a hiking trip to the popular destination Mount Rinjani is among those killed.

Mount Rinjani National Park has since been closed due to landslides.

According to government officials, landslides have shut down water supply routes and electricity for dozens of houses.

Around 11 aftershocks were recorded, as well as 60 smaller earthquakes following the first one.

Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, a spokesman for the country’s disaster agency, said: “The main focus now is evacuation and rescue.