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45-year-old farmer from Tiganderket district, Karo Regency, North Sumatra, was found dead on Saturday morning, several hours after he was swept away by Mount Sinabung'€™s cold lava flood.

Abdi Surbakti has become the 15th victim of the impact of Mt. Sinabung'€™s fluctuating activity since 2010.

Earlier on Friday at around 5 p.m. local time, Abdi and his wife were riding a motorcycle under heavy rain to return home after visiting their orange farm in Kutakepar hamlet in Susuk subdisrict.

The couple was crossing the Susuk River when suddenly the cold lava flood came and hit them.

'€œThe wife managed to survive after she held on to a tree branch. She, however, had to witness her husband being swept away by the flood,'€ said Soemsito Ginting, a local resident who witnessed the incident.

Local residents immediately came to the river to search for Abdi'€™s body.

'€œWe searched along the river until midnight but ended up empty-handed. We finally found the victim'€™s body the next morning at 9 a.m., 1.5 kilometers from the incident scene,'€ he said.

Mt. Sinabung, standing at 2,460 meters, was inactive for centuries before erupting in August 2010. Three years later, it erupted again and has never entirely stopped since then, forcing residents living near the volcano to be prepared for evacuation should volcanic activity escalate suddenly.

In 2013, 14 people local residents reportedly died after hot clouds from the eruptions enveloped the volcano'€™s surrounding areas. The eruptions have also destroyed thousands of houses and hectares of farmland.

Earlier this year, authorities increased Sinabung'€™s alert status to the highest level. Since then, the volcano has experienced a series of eruptions, with authorities unable to predict when the evacuees will be able to return safely to their homes.

The National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) reported that more than 2,500 families from nine subdistricts near the volcano had been evacuated to nine evacuation centers in the regency as of last month.

Dangers, however, still shadow local residents despite the temporary absence of eruptions. The massive amount of volcanic material and cold lava, which has amassed on the slopes of the volcano, can suddenly be swept away by downpours and destroy the surrounding environment.

According to Soemsito, Susuk River, located 7 kilometers west of Mt. Sinabung, has become a regular path for flash-floods carrying volcanic material. The latest cold lava flood, he said, had emerged three months ago.

Karo BPBD secretary Jhonson Tarigan, however, preferred to blame '€œfloods'€, instead of '€œcold lava floods'€, as the cause of the fatal incident.

Jhonson also called on local residents to be more careful in anticipating similar flash floods. '€œWe warn local resident to stay alert,'€ he said.

The chairman of the Indonesian Volunteers Community'€™s (MRI) Karo branch, Susanto Ginting strongly urged local authorities to develop concrete action plans to prevent the further impact of cold lava floods in the area.