Five journalists missing when they were going to cover Anak Krakata's eruption

“ Aso far, the searches have not obtained results ", admitted the person responsible for the rescue teams, Al-Amrad, adding that the operations were suspended and will not be resumed until Thursday.

The group boarded a speedboat on Monday afternoon at a port in Banten Province, located about 120 kilometres west of Jakarta, but contact with the crew was quickly lost.

Among the passengers were five Indonesian journalists working for local and international media, including the Indonesian state news agency Antara, Turkish news agency Anadolu and local news portal iNews.

The journalists, accompanied by two crew members and a guide, wanted to photograph and film the eruptions of the volcano Anak Krakatau, which led to the closure of several airports on Sunday.

The search began on Tuesday afternoon and suspended at night due to high waves and poor visibility.

Today, the search area has been extended, with the operation involving dozens of rescuers, including police, military, fishermen and volunteers, who have searched an area of more than 270 nautical miles (about 500 km), including the islands near the volcano.

The operation, which mobilizes rapid search and rescue boats, inflatable boats and drones, has, however, been very cautiously carried out since Anak Krakatau continues to expel dense volcanic ash.

One of the missing journalists contacted a colleague and shared his location on Monday at 3:00 p.m. local time (09:00 in Lisbon), but there has been no news since.

The eruptions of the volcano Anak Krakatau forced the authorities to suspend air traffic on Sunday at several Indonesian airports. The flights were resumed on Tuesday, mainly at the international airport of Jakarta.

Sea accidents are not uncommon in Indonesia, a vast archipelago of Southeast Asia with 17,000 islands, partly due to unsafe safety standards and sometimes to adverse weather conditions.