Pekalongan (ANTARA News) - Hundreds of mountaineers and natural lovers have to cancel plan to climb Mt. Slamet in the border area between Pemalang and Purwokerto, Central Java, as the volcano shows growing activities.

Mountaineering is not allowed after the volcano showed growing activities since mid July, a local security officer Sugeng Riyadi said in Pemalang on Saturday.

Many people had to return as it is not yet known when the condition is safe again, Sugeng said.

He said groups of natural lovers had planned to climb to the peak of the mountain on the occasion of the countrys independence day on August 17 .

"They wanted to celebrate the 69th anniversary of the countrys independence by climbing to the mountain top," he said.

However, the Vulcanology and Geology Disaster Mitigation Center has prohibited mountaineering, he added.

He said on the same occasion last year, thousands of people from different provinces and countries climbed the mountain.

In the past five months the number of climbers have declined sharply because of the activities shown by the volcano.

However, there are still people climbing despite the prohibition, he said.
(Uu.H-ASG/A014)