As the Mount Dukono volcano in Indonesia erupted without any warning, a group of hikers found themselves racing against time, scrambling down the treacherous slopes.
In the heart-stopping footage, the hikers are seen fleeing in sheer panic as a massive plume of ash towers into the sky.
Their descent, captured by a government drone earlier this month, shows a group of panicked hikers racing down over the rocky terrain of Mount Dukono as the towering plume of ash rolls toward them with hair-raising speed.
Battling fear and terror, they rapidly rushed down the side of the rocky terrain, dropping quickly in a mad race for their lives.
Fortunately, everyone survived the terrifying adventure, The Telegraph reported.
Despite explicit warnings from Indonesia’s national disaster agency, the group defied a ban on entering a perilous area on Halmahera, a remote island known for its rugged terrain and sparse population, the New York Post reported.
The agency strongly advised against climbing Mount Dukono, a volcano that has been in a state of near-constant eruption since the 1930s due to heightened volcanic activity. However, these warnings were ignored, as reported by the outlet.
Head of the Centre for Volcanology and Geological Disaster Mitigation, Priatin Hadi Wijaya, said, “The public is advised not to climb or visit Mount Dukono as volcanic activity is still high at the moment.”