Volcano-triggered tsunami strikes Indonesia, at least 222 killed

National Disaster Mitigation Agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho told a press conference in Yogyakarta that 843 people were injured and 28 missing. No foreigners have so far been confirmed among the dead, KYODO NEWS reports.

Local meteorological authorities said the tsunami, with a height that ranged between 28 and 90 centimeters, was likely generated by an underwater landslide caused by the eruption at 9:03 p.m. Saturday of Anak Krakatau, an active volcano located between the islands of Java and Sumatra.

A spring tide, caused by the full moon, possibly made the wave larger than it otherwise would have been, they added.

According to Sutopo, the tsunami hit the coastal regencies of Pandeglang and Serang in Banten Province, on the western tip of Java Island, and the coastal area of Lampung Province in the southern part of Sumatra Island.

At least 558 houses, 350 boats, nine hotels and 60 food stalls and restaurants were damaged.

"Pandeglang is the worst-affected area," the spokesman said. During the December holiday season, many vacationers head with their families to the regency, which has several beaches popular mostly among local tourists.

"We are still compiling the data but the number of casualties and damage may increase," he added, while calling on people to refrain from taking part in activities in or near the coastal areas.

President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo released a statement from Sulawesi island expressing deep condolences to the victims. "May those left behind be patient," he said.

Among the dead are two members of the Jakarta-based pop band Seventeen and their manager, the band's spokeswoman Yulia Dian said. The drummer of the four-man ensemble and the wife of the lead singer, who survived, remain unaccounted for.

"The wave hit at around 9:30 p.m., sweeping away our stage that was erected just in front of the beach...and all of the people at the scene," Dian said.

The band was performing an open-air concert for 300 employees of state-owned company PT Perusahaan Listrik Negara, or PLN, and their families who were attending a year-end gathering at Tanjung Lesung Beach Hotel on Tanjung Lesung Beach, when the tsunami struck.

Dramatic footage shared on social media by a PLN employee showed people screaming as the tsunami slammed into the stage while the band was performing.

Kyodo News reporters witnessed scores of bodies, mainly of PLN employees and their family members, laid out in the hotel lobby, covered with bed sheets or placed inside body bags. Bodies continued arriving in the overwhelmed lobby as rescuers found more floating on the shore or scattered along the hotel's exclusive beach.

A tourist bus, cars, chairs and tables were seen tossed over in the hotel's garden.

PLN confirmed in a press statement that at least 29 employees and family members had been killed.

In the hotel lobby, Ndang Rukmana, 42, was desperately asking government officials and police officers to look for his 22-year-old daughter Teti Susilawati, who was working as a waitress at the hotel.

"I've been here since before sunrise (looking for her), while my wife and my daughter's husband are checking hospitals," he told Kyodo News.

From a disaster assembly point near Tanjung Lesung Beach, popular comedian Ade Dora called for "immediate help" in a video shot from his phone and sent to journalists.

"There are many children and pregnant women here. We were on Tanjung Lesung Beach when the tsunami swept us away. I am one of the survivors," he said, with visible bruises on his face. Another comedian who was with him to entertain holidaymakers was reportedly killed.