(CNN) Eight people died after a helicopter crashed in central Java, Indonesia, while on a rescue mission following a volcanic eruption. 
 
 The National Search and Rescue helicopter was en route to provide assistance when it crashed Sunday. All eight casualties were members of Indonesia's emergency services, according to CNN affiliate CNN Indonesia. 
 
 More than a dozen tourists were visiting the Sileri Crater area when it erupted at about midday, shooting cold lava, mud and smoke up to 50 meters into the air, state news agency Antara News said. 
 
 Four of the visitors were injured, it said. 
 
 Radius 100m di Kawah Sileri sejak 24/6/2017 direkomendasikan PVMBG tidak boleh ada aktivitas wisata. Namun larangan sering tidak ditaati. pic.twitter.com/nO77hgKLCM — Sutopo Purwo Nugroho (@Sutopo_BNPB) July 2, 2017 
 
 Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, head of public relations at Indonesia's National Disaster Mitigation Agency, told Antara no one had been killed in the eruption itself but visitors were being ordered to clear the area. He said army, police and volunteers were all location to ensure the area to give assistance. 
 
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 Helicopter crashed three minutes before arriving at Dieng Plateau, the popular tourist area where the eruption on Sunday injured at least 10 
 
 A rescue helicopter crashed while heading to help evacuate residents near an active volcano on Indonesia’s main island, killing all eight people on board, officials said on Monday. 
 
 
 
 The helicopter crashed about three minutes before arriving at Dieng Plateau, the popular tourist area where the volcanic eruption on Sunday injured at least 10 people. The aircraft reportedly hit a cliff on Butak Mountain in the Temanggung district of Central Java province. 
 
 All eight people on board were killed, said Maj Gen Heronimus Guru, deputy operations chief of the National Search and Rescue Agency. “We are now at the Bhayangkara hospital in Semarang,” the Central Java provincial capital where the victims’ bodies were taken, he said. 
 
 Brig Gen Ivan Tito, director of operation and training at the search agency, told TVOne station in a live interview from Temanggung, that the victims were four navy officers and four rescuers. He also said the Indonesian-made Dauphin AS365 helicopter was airworthy. 
 
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 The Sileri Crater at Dieng Plateau spewed cold lava, mud and ash as high as 50 metres into the sky when it erupted Sunday morning, said National Disaster Mitigation Agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho. 
 
 The sudden eruption occurred while about 17 visitors were around the crater. Ten people were injured and were treated at a hospital. 
 
 Soldiers and police officers were dispatched and local residents and visitors were asked to evacuate in case of further eruptions, Nugroho said. The crater appeared to be quieter on Monday morning, and all visitors to the plateau have been evacuated. 
 
 Sileri is the most active and dangerous among 10 craters at Dieng Plateau. Its most recent eruption was in 2009, when it unleashed volcanic materials up to 200 metres high and triggered the creation of three new craters. 
 
 Dieng Plateau, located in the Central Java district of Banjarnegara, is a popular tourist attraction because of its cool climate and ninth-century Hindu temples. It sits about 2,000 metres above sea level. 
 
 Around 140 people were reportedly asphyxiated in 1979 when the volcano spewed gases. 

 Java volcano: Eight Indonesian rescuers killed in helicopter crash 
 
 Updated 
 
 Officials in Indonesia have confirmed eight people were killed when a helicopter crashed while heading to help residents near an erupting volcano. 
 
 The Dieng volcano in central Java, which is popular with tourists, erupted on Sunday morning and reportedly injured at least 10 locals. 
 
 The rescue helicopter crashed into a nearby cliff on Butak Mountain in the Temanggung district, killing all those on board. 
 
 Major General Heronimus Guru, deputy operations chief of the National Search and Rescue Agency, said the bodies of the eight victims were taken to the nearby Bhayangkara Hospital in the Central Java provincial capital of Semarang. 
 
 The victims were four navy officers and four rescuers, the director of operations and training at the search agency, Brigadier General Ivan Tito, told local TV. 
 
 He also said the Indonesian-made Dauphin AS365 helicopter was airworthy. 
 
 The Sileri Crater at Dieng Plateau spewed cold lava, mud and ash as high as 50 metres into the sky when it erupted, National Disaster Mitigation Agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said. 
 
 The sudden eruption occurred while about 17 visitors were around the crater. 
 
 Sileri is the most active and dangerous among some 10 craters at Dieng Plateau. Its most recent eruption was in 2009, when it unleashed volcanic materials up to 200 metres high and triggered the creation of three new craters. 
 
 Some 142 people were reportedly asphyxiated in 1979 when the volcano spewed gases. 
 
 ABC/AP 
 
 Topics: accidents, disasters-and-accidents, indonesia, asia 
 
 First posted 

 A helicopter belonging to the National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas) crashed in Temanggung, Central Java, on Sunday afternoon, killing eight people on board. 
 
 The helicopter was on a rescue mission to the Dieng Plateau in Central Java where an active volcanic crater and famous tourist destination, Sileri Crater, erupted at 12 p.m. It was spurting cold lava and sending smoke 50 meters in the air. 
 
 The helicopter departed from the Central Java’s provincial capital of Semarang at 4 p.m. 
 
 Basarnas operational director Maj. Gen. Heronimus Guru confirmed there were eight people on board the ill-fated helicopter, consisting of four crew and four rescuers. 
 
 Central Java Basarnas spokesman Zulhawary Agustianto told The Jakarta Post they predicted the helicopter hit a cliff in an area called Canggal in Candiroto district. 
 
 Central Java Police chief Insp. Gen. Condro Kirono said joint 100 joint personnel had reached the crash site. 
 
 At least 17 tourists were at the crater when the eruption occurred, according to the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB). Ten of them who sustained injuries, which ranged from bruises to a fractured arm, were immediately brought to a nearby community health center to receive treatment. 
 
 “The authorities asked visitors and residents to vacate the area because there was potential for the crater to erupt for a second time,” BNPB spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said in a statement. 
 
 The phreatic eruption was caused by gas pressure under the ground, resulting in an explosion that sent out a mix of steam, water, ash and mud, Sutopo added. 
 
 According to the local disaster agency, Sileri Crater is the most active and dangerous crater in the volcanic Dieng Plateau, with six eruptions recorded from 1939 to 2009. 
 
 “We were all panicking at the time. The eruption produced a lot of smoke and mud. It was terrifying,” said Amin Abdurrahmah, a 17-yearold tourist from Banyumas who visited the site that day. (kuk/ary) 

 Smoke billows from Sileri Crater after it erupted in Dieng, Central Java, Indonesia, Sunday, July 2, 2017. A helicopter carrying eight people crashed Sunday while on the way to help with evacuations near... (Associated Press) 
 
 JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — A rescue helicopter crashed while heading to help evacuate residents near an active volcano on Indonesia's main island, killing all eight people on board, officials said Monday. 
 
 The helicopter crashed about three minutes before arriving at Dieng Plateau, the popular tourist area where the volcanic eruption Sunday injured at least 10 people. The aircraft reportedly hit a cliff on Butak Mountain in the Temanggung district of Central Java province. 
 
 All eight people on board were killed, said Maj. Gen. Heronimus Guru, deputy operations chief of the National Search and Rescue Agency. He told The Associated Press, "We are now at the Bhayangkara Hospital in Semarang," the Central Java provincial capital where the victims' bodies were taken. 
 
 Brig. Gen. Ivan Tito, director of operation and training at the search agency, told TVOne station in a live interview from Temanggung, that the victims were four navy officers and four rescuers. He also said the Indonesian-made Dauphin AS365 helicopter was airworthy. 
 
 The Sileri Crater at Dieng Plateau spewed cold lava, mud and ash as high as 50 meters (164 feet) into the sky when it erupted Sunday morning, said National Disaster Mitigation Agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho. 
 
 The sudden eruption occurred while about 17 visitors were around the crater. Ten people were injured and were treated at a hospital. 
 
 Soldiers and police officers were dispatched and local residents and visitors were asked to evacuate in case of further eruptions, Nugroho said. 
 
 Sileri is the most active and dangerous among some 10 craters at Dieng Plateau. Its most recent eruption was in 2009, when it unleashed volcanic materials up to 200 meters (656 feet) high and triggered the creation of three new craters. 
 
 Dwi Suryanto, head of culture and tourism in the Sileri area, said the crater was quiet Monday but remains closed to visitors. Other craters on the plateau are still open, he said. 
 
 Dieng Plateau, located in the Central Java district of Banjarnegara, is a popular tourist attraction because of its cool climate and ninth-century Hindu temples. It sits about 2,000 meters (6,600 feet) above sea level. 
 
 Some 142 people were reportedly asphyxiated in 1979 when the volcano spewed gases. 

 The four crewmembers killed in the crash have been identified as Capt. Haryanto, Capt. Lu Solihin, Chief Sgt. Hari Marsono and First Lt. Budi Santoso. The four Basarnas members were Maulana Affandi, Nyoto Purwanto, Budi Resti and Catur. 
 
 Their deceased's families have already collected their bodies from the hospital for burial. 
 
 Antara quoted Central Java Police chief Insp. Gen. Condro Kirono as saying that the police still cannot confirm the cause of the crash. 
 
 He said the rescue helicopter crashed in Canggal Bulu at about 5.00 p.m. on Sunday. 
 
 Agus Haryono, head of Basarnas in Semarang, said the helicopter was dispatched from the Juanda International Airport in Sidoarjo, East Java. 
 
 In the morning before the helicopter crashed, it took several journalists from a toll gate in Brebes, Central Java, to monitor post-Lebaran traffic and was heading to Grising near Batang in Central Java, before Basarnas diverted it to the Dieng Plateau to monitor the eruption at Sileri Crater, which had injured dozens of people. 
 
 "We [Basarnas] received news about the Dieng eruption in the morning, so we decided to send the chopper there," Agus said. 
 
 The journalists who were on board the helicopter were dropped off at Achmad Yani International Airport in Semarang, saving them from the tragic incident. 
 
 The helicopter was on its way to Banjarnegara district in the southwestern part of Central Java near the Dieng Plateau, to assist with the evacuation of residents. 
 
 Agus said the SA 365/AS365 Dauphin 2 Eurocopter — a medium-weight twin-engine helicopter made by Airbus Helicopters — was in normal condition and had been used by the transportation minister to monitor post-Lebaran traffic without any problems. 
 
 "The helicopter is new; it was assembled in 2015," he said.
– The Sileri Crater, one of Indonesia's most active volcanoes, erupted Sunday, but although there were injuries, no one perished as the mountain spewed its lava, ash, and mud up to 165 feet in the air—until, that is, a rescue helicopter was sent in to help those at the site. CNN and the AP report that eight members of the country's emergency services team died when a National Search and Rescue chopper went down while on its way to help out. Injury reports are still murky, with the Antara News state agency saying four tourists at the volcano were hurt during the eruption, while ABC Australia reports at least 10 were injured. The number of visitors at the scene at the time has been listed as being between one and two dozen. "We were all panicking," one sightseer tells the Jakarta Post. "It was terrifying." The helicopter slammed into a cliff on nearby Mount Butak, just three minutes before it was set to arrive at the Dieng Plateau, the Guardian reports. Four navy officers and four rescue workers died, per an NSR director, who added the Dauphin AS365 made in Indonesia was safe to fly. The Jakarta Globe, which notes the helicopter crashed at around 5pm local time, reports a group of journalists had been on board the helicopter earlier in the day, but they were dropped off at an airport before the chopper headed to the eruption site. The bodies of those who died are said to have been retrieved by their families from a Semarang hospital. The volcano is closed for now to tourists due to the eruption, which Antara says was caused by "gas pressure," per CNN. (There's an Italian supervolcano scientists are keeping a wary eye on.)