At least 62 killed in Indonesia volcano-triggered tsunami

JAKARTA, Indonesia – The death toll from a volcano-triggered tsunami that hit both sides of Indonesia’s Sunda Strait late Saturday has risen to 62, the country’s disaster mitigation agency (BNPB) said.

BNPB spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said in a statement Sunday the number of missing had risen to 20, while 584 people were injured.

The number of casualties was expected to increase as authorities were still collecting data from areas affected by the tsunami, he added.

Undersea landslides triggered by an eruption of the Mount Anak Krakatau volcano may have caused the tsunami, the country’s climatology agency (BMKG) said.

The volcano is located on the strait between the island of Java and Sumatra.

The climatology agency said the eruption took place at 9:03 p.m., and the tsunami hit at 9:27 p.m.

“At the same time the tide was high due to the full moon, so it was a combination of two natural phenomenons, the tsunami and the high tide,” Nugroho said.

He said casualties had been recorded in the provinces of Lampung on the Sumatra side of the strait and Banten on the Java side of the strait.

Some of the worst hit areas were in Banten, mainly in Pandeglang district where there are many popular beach resorts that were busy with tourists during the holiday season.

A clip shared widely on social media showed a band called Seventeen playing when a large wave crashed into the rear of the beachside stage on which they were performing.

The band was playing at a beach resort in Tanjung Lesung, one of the tourist centers in Pandeglang.

An estimated 230,000 people were killed on Dec. 26, 2004 when an earthquake-triggered tsunami struck 13 countries on the Indian Ocean including Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India and Thailand.