Pilgrims climb Bromo, ignore warning

The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta   |  Fri, 09/08/2006 7:41 AM

Wahyoe Boediwardhana and ID Nugroho, The Jakarta Post, Malang, Probolinggo

Thousands of pilgrims made the climb up Mount Bromo to take part in the ancient Kasodo rite Thursday, ignoring official warnings to stay away from the active volcano's crater.

People from the East Java towns of Probolinggo, Lumajang and Malang began arriving at the mountain Wednesday, joining with the mountain's Tengger people and local and foreign tourists for the peak of the ritual.

In the ancient rite, held every 14th or 15th day of Kasodo -- the 10th month on the Javanese calendar -- people throw offerings into Bromo's crater to ensure God will bless them with prosperity and safety.

Bromo is currently on its second-highest or ""level three"" alert status after activity in its crater increased in recent months.

Authorities have warned residents and visitors to stay at least one kilometer away from the crater, which is more active than normal. Residents living around the mountain have not been evacuated.

Some of the pilgrims' progress came to a halt Thursday when a group of police officers and Tengger Bromo Semeru conservation park officials met a crowd of people climbing the mountain's slopes and told them to turn back.

However, after the police left the mountain, more crowds were seen ascending its slopes.

Bromo's alert status was increased Wednesday after the Bandung Volcanology and Geological Disaster Mitigation center received reports from monitoring posts about the mountain's increasing activity.

Syafii, the head of the Bromo observation post in Cemoro Lawang, said Thursday data the posts had gathered showed a sharp increase in dangerous activity. ""Activity is still fluctuating ... but this is likely to happen due to the (varying) gas pressure inside the mountain,"" Syafii said.

Tremors on the mountain's slops and the smell of sulfur, indicating poisonous sulfur dioxide gas, had also increased, he said. ""In the mornings and nights the sulfur smell is very strong, unlike on ordinary days,"" he said.

Syafii said he was unable to predict whether the mountain's activity would continue to increase into an eruption or decrease.

To anticipate a possible blowout, the number of staff monitoring the smoldering mountain has been increased.

However, they were too small in number to prevent determined pilgrims from climbing Bromo's slopes Thursday.

In the volcano's last eruption in June 2004, two people died and five people were injured.

Ngadisari village head Supoyo said Thursday that residents' lives around the volcano had not been disrupted by the mountain's rising activity.

""Residents go about their routine activities as they usually do. They're calm and don't feel worried at all,"" he said.

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