Speedboat disappears near volcano in Sunda Strait, Indonesia... Eight people, including five photographers, are being searched.

(Jakarta = Yonhap News) Correspondent Hyeon-gyu Son = Eight local people, including five photographers who were covering the site of a volcanic eruption in the Sunda Strait of Indonesia, went missing at sea, and rescue authorities began a search.

According to the AP and AFP news agencies on the 10th (local time), a speedboat went missing on the 7th in the sea near the Anak Krakatau volcano in the Sunda Strait between the Indonesian islands of Sumatra and Java.

It was confirmed that a total of eight people were on the speedboat, including five Indonesian photojournalists, two crew members, and one route guide.

The photographers were affiliated with Indonesia's state-run news agency Antara and Turkye Anadolu News, and one freelance photographer was also included.

They were found to have left from Karita, a coastal village in Banten Province, on the afternoon of the 7th to cover the site of the Anak Krakatau volcano eruption.

A photojournalist lost contact after sending a final message to a relative at 6:13 p.m. on the same day, saying, "I arrived in the waters around Anak Krakatau (volcano)."

The last location of the speedboat they were on was confirmed to be 18.5 km away from the coast, but the whereabouts of the missing people have not yet been determined.

Indonesian rescue authorities deployed five ships, including two navy ships, and thermal imaging drones the day before, and expanded the search range from the waters around Anak Krakatau Volcano to the entire Sunda Strait.

However, rescue operations are experiencing difficulties as volcanic ash continues to come out of Anak Krakatau volcano.

Previously, the Anak Krakatau volcano on an island in the Sunda Strait erupted on the night of the 4th and poured out lava, and eight major airports in Indonesia were closed for two days from the 6th to the 7th as volcanic ash spread.

A total of 2,961 flights, including 622 international flights including Korean Air, were disrupted, and 341,000 passengers were unable to board the plane.

Indonesia is located in the Pacific Rim orogenic belt, known as the 'Ring of Fire', so not only earthquakes but also volcanic eruptions occur frequently, and there are over 120 active volcanoes.

Anak Krakatau Volcano means 'Children of Krakatau', and its parent, Krakatau Volcano, disappeared in August 1883 with a huge eruption, which is considered one of the worst volcanic eruptions of all time. At the time, about 36,000 people died due to the tsunami caused by this explosion.

In 1927, a major eruption occurred at the site of Krakatau Volcano, causing the current Anak Krakatau Volcano to rise.

Anak Krakatau volcano also erupted in December 2018, causing a series of underwater landslides and tsunamis that hit the coasts of Banten Province and Lampung Province, killing 429 people.