"Today, 178 climbers will descend to the Semeru Climbing Post at Ranu Pani," Novix Heryadi, commander of the Basarnas Surabaya Rescue Team, said on Thursday.
Basarnas Deputy for Operations and Preparedness Edy Prakoso earlier said field teams reported the climbers were camping in the Ranu Kumbolo area of Mount Semeru.
"The situation at Ranu Kumbolo is safe, but there has been an appeal to descend," he said on Wednesday night.
Ranu Kumbolo is a crater lake at an altitude of 2,400 meters above sea level, about six hours from the summit via the Kalimati trail, a route commonly used by climbers.
Prakoso said Basarnas personnel were on standby and in communication with volunteers, guides, and TNBTS officials to assist in evacuating the climbers.
The evacuation was carried out by a joint team deployed shortly after Mount Semeru erupted on Wednesday afternoon.
The Geological Agency of the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM) reported that the eruption occurred at 16:00 local time with an eruption column rising about 2,000 meters above the summit.
During the eruption, Mount Semeru emitted a pyroclastic flow that traveled up to seven kilometers from the summit, with a thick gray ash column drifting to the north and northwest.
The eruption, recorded on a seismogram at the Lumajang volcano monitoring post, had a maximum amplitude of 40 mm and lasted about 16 minutes and 40 seconds.
Mount Semeru's eruptive activity ended at 18:11 local time on Wednesday.
The government and the Geological Agency are maintaining Level IV (Alert) status to anticipate further activity.
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Translator: Resinta Sulistiyandari
Editor: Anton Santoso
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