Over 500 tourists trapped on Indonesian mountain after deadly quake

JAKARTA: A total of 524 tourists have been trapped on a mountain in Indonesian popular tourist island of Lombok after a strong quake triggered landslides that cut off roads, a government official said on Monday.

The tourists hiking the Mount Rinjani volcano in West Nusa Tenggara province, include 358 foreign visitors and 166 domestic tourists, spokesman of the national disaster management agency Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said.

The foreign visitors come from the United States, the Britain, Malaysia, Canada, France, Netherlands, Thailand and Singapore, he said. "Landslides have already occurred with rocks and soil burying the road to go down from the mountain," Sutopo told Xinhua.

Soldiers, police personnel and volunteers were rescuing the stranded holidaymakers on Monday, he added.

A 6.4-magnitude quake rocked West Nusa Tenggara province early Sunday, leaving at least 14 people dead, including one Malaysian, 162 others injured and over 1,000 houses and buildings destroyed.

Mount Rinjani volcano, a popular tourist destination, draws hundreds of thousands of climbers every year, according to the government data.

Indonesia sees frequent quakes as it lies in the quake-prone Pacific Ring of Fire area.