NAN
A total of 524 tourists have been trapped on a mountain in Indonesian popular tourist island of Lombok after a strong quake triggered landslides that cut off roads, a government official said on Monday.
“The tourists hiking the Mount Rinjani volcano in West Nusa Tenggara province include 358 foreign visitors and 166 domestic tourists,’’ spokesman of the national disaster management agency Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said.
Nugroho said that the foreign visitors come from the U.S., UK, Malaysia, Canada, France, Netherlands, Thailand and Singapore.
“Landslides have already occurred with rocks and soil burying the road to go down from the mountain.
“Soldiers, police personnel and volunteers were rescuing the stranded holidaymakers on Monday,’’ Sutopo told newsmen.
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A 6.4-magnitude quake rocked West Nusa Tenggara province early Sunday, leaving no fewer than 14 people dead, including one Malaysian, 162 others injured and over 1,000 houses and buildings destroyed.
According to the government data, Mount Rinjani volcano, a popular tourist destination, draws hundreds of thousands of climbers every year.
Report says Indonesia sees frequent quakes as it lies in the quake-prone Pacific Ring of Fire area.