Anak Krakatau Volcano Keeps Erupting in Indonesia as Search Continues for 8 Missing Boat Passengers

Indonesia’s Anak Krakatau volcano is still erupting as of Wednesday, and eight people who set out by boat to cover the eruption remain missing, with search teams unable to say what happened to them.

The volcano, which sits in the Sunda Strait between Java and Sumatra, has erupted three separate times this week. A roughly 25-hour continuous eruption, producing lava fountains, ran from the night of Sept. 4 through the early hours of Sept. 6, 2026, throwing ash as high as about 50,000 feet. It erupted again Tuesday morning. It erupted a third time early Wednesday, at 12:47 a.m. local time, in a 28-second event with a maximum seismic amplitude of 51 millimeters, sending ash about 7,000 feet into the air over Lampung Bay, according to satellite tracking data. Indonesia’s volcanology agency, PVMBG, says the potential for further eruptions remains high.

The alert level has not changed. Anak Krakatau remains at Level III, called “Siaga” — the second-highest of Indonesia’s four volcano alert tiers — with a mandatory 3-kilometer (roughly 2-mile) no-entry zone around the crater. That status has been in place since early July 2026, meaning this month’s intensified activity extends months of elevated alert rather than marking a sudden new one.

Key facts

Volcano: Anak Krakatau, in the Sunda Strait between Java and Sumatra
Alert level: Level III (“Siaga”), unchanged since early July 2026
No-entry zone: mandatory 3 kilometers (about 2 miles) around the crater
Eruptions this week: three — a roughly 25-hour eruption from the night of Sept. 4 to early Sept. 6 (ash to about 50,000 feet), a second Tuesday morning, and a third early Wednesday at 12:47 a.m. (ash to about 7,000 feet)
Missing: 8 people — 5 photojournalists, 2 crew members and a guide — after their speedboat lost contact Monday evening near the volcano
Casualties from the eruption: none reported
Tsunami risk: rated “low” by Indonesia’s meteorology agency, BMKG
Airports: all 8 closed airports had reopened by Tuesday; broader reports put disruption at roughly 2,900 flights and about 340,000 travelers across the eight airports

Timeline

Early July 2026: Anak Krakatau raised to Level III (“Siaga”) alert, where it remains
Sept. 4 (night) – Sept. 6 (early hours): first eruption of the week, roughly 25 hours continuous, ash to about 50,000 feet
Monday, Sept. 7 (evening): speedboat carrying 8 people toward the volcano loses contact after leaving Carita, Banten
Tuesday, Sept. 8 (morning): second eruption of the week
Tuesday, Sept. 8: all 8 ash-closed airports, including Jakarta’s Soekarno-Hatta, reopen
Wednesday, Sept. 9, 12:47 a.m.: third eruption, ash about 7,000 feet over Lampung Bay
Wednesday, Sept. 9: search for the missing boat resumes with high-speed boats, inflatables and thermal drones after a weather pause
Thursday, Sept. 10: Lampung province’s provincewide online-school order is set to run through this date

Eight people still missing

A speedboat carrying five photojournalists, two crew members and a guide lost contact Monday evening after leaving a pier in Carita, in Indonesia’s Banten province, on a trip toward the volcano to cover the eruption. The journalists worked for Indonesian outlets and Turkey’s Anadolu Agency. Their whereabouts have not been established.

The mandatory 3-kilometer no-entry zone around the crater has been in force since early July, and Indonesia’s transport ministry had separately ordered vessels to stay at least that distance away before the boat set out. Separately, fishing trips in the affected area have been halted or canceled. It is not known whether the boat entered the zone or how close it came before losing contact — that has not been established, and the eruption itself is not confirmed to have caused the boat’s disappearance.

Indonesia’s National Search and Rescue Agency, Basarnas, resumed the search Wednesday using high-speed boats, inflatable craft and thermal drones, after rough waves and poor visibility had forced a pause. The agency has expanded the search area. None of the eight has been located, and nothing is confirmed about their condition.

No deaths or injuries reported

No deaths or injuries have been reported from the eruption itself. Officials note the nearest settlement is more than 10 miles from the volcano, and no evacuation order has been issued.

Officials say tsunami risk is low

Anak Krakatau’s December 2018 eruption triggered a flank collapse that caused a tsunami killing hundreds of people without warning — one of the reasons this eruption is being watched closely. But Indonesian officials say that is not what’s happening now. The country’s meteorology agency, BMKG, has detected no unusual sea-level changes or currents in the Sunda Strait, and its tsunami-probability monitoring puts the current risk in the “low” category. Separately, the geological survey agency Badan Geologi says the volcanic cone that has rebuilt since the 2018 collapse still isn’t large enough to trigger another one under present conditions.

A video that circulated online claiming to show the eruption tearing through a nearby town has been debunked: Anak Krakatau’s island itself has no town or permanent population.

Airports reopened Tuesday after days of closures

Ash from the eruption forced the closure of eight airports across Jakarta, Banten, West Java and Lampung over the preceding days. All eight had reopened by Tuesday, led by Jakarta’s main airport, Soekarno-Hatta, along with Halim Perdanakusuma, Husein Sastranegara in Bandung and Radin Inten II in Lampung. Soekarno-Hatta resumed operations after four straight negative ash tests. A separate airport, Wunopito in East Nusa Tenggara, remains closed — but because of ash from a different volcano, Mount Ile Lewotolok, not Anak Krakatau.

By the time all eight airports had reopened Tuesday, media outlets including Al Jazeera and The Jakarta Post put the fuller toll at roughly 2,900 flights and around 340,000 travelers. That figure is larger than an earlier one because it covers more ground: InJourney, the state operator that runs four of the eight closed airports, had reported about 2,300 flights and 268,539 passengers affected across just those four airports, as of 9 a.m. Monday — before the other four airports were added in. Some individual flights on carriers including Lion Air and NAM Air stayed canceled even after the airports themselves reopened.

Schools moved online, fishing halted near the volcano

Indonesia’s education minister ordered schools in the most ash-affected districts — including Serang in Banten and three districts in Lampung province — to switch to online classes, while telling schools where in-person learning is still safe to enforce masks and keep students sheltered indoors. Lampung’s provincial government went further, extending online classes for every level of school across the entire province through Thursday, Sept. 10. In Jakarta, schools also shifted online, though most workplaces stayed open.

Fishing has also been disrupted in coastal towns closer to the volcano — Labuan, Carita and Panimbang — because of ashfall and reduced visibility.

Part of broader volcanic activity in Indonesia

Anak Krakatau has erupted well over 100 times so far in 2026, though the exact count varies by source. It isn’t Indonesia’s most active volcano this year — several others, including Mount Semeru in East Java, have erupted even more often — but it draws outsized attention because of how close it sits to Jakarta’s main airport.

What happens next

PVMBG says the potential for further eruptions remains high, and search teams are still looking for the eight missing people. Neither issue is resolved as of Wednesday.