JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesian rescuers searched for eight people who went missing at sea while heading the island of Anak Krakatau to report on a volcanic eruption, officials said Wednesday.
A speedboat carrying five photojournalists, two crew members and a route guide lost contact after leaving Carita, a coastal town in Banten province, for the volcanic island in the Sunda Strait, said Al Amrad, Banten province's Search and Rescue Office chief.
He said the last message from the boat was received by relatives of a journalist on board at 6:13 p.m. Monday, saying the group had arrived in the waters around Anak Krakatau. They have not been heard from since.
The five Indonesian journalists work for Indonesia's state news agency Antara, Turkey's Anadolu Agency, Indonesia's Merkada and iNews, while the fifth is a freelance photographer.
Their last known location was about 18.5 kilometers (11.5 miles) from shore. Rescuers, who have been deployed since Tuesday, “still unable to establish contact with the group or determine their whereabouts,” Amrad said.
The initial eruption of Anak Krakatau ended Sunday, but it has continued to erupt intermittently with explosions ejecting lava, ash and incandescent volcanic material from the crater.
The eruption caused airport closures Sunday and Monday that disrupted nearly 2,961 flights, including 622 international services, and affected about 341,000 passengers.
The government also authorized schools in areas affected by volcanic ash to shift temporarily to online learning to reduce students’ exposure to ash.
Anak Krakatau, whose name means “child of Krakatau,” emerged from the remains of Krakatau, whose massive 1883 eruption largely destroyed the volcano and triggered a period of global cooling.
An eruption of Anak Krakatau in 2018 caused a tsunami that killed at least 430 people in Sumatra and Java. The volcano has been at Indonesia’s second-highest alert level since July, and authorities have advised residents, tourists and fishermen to stay at least 3 kilometers (1.9 miles) from the active crater.
Indonesia has more than 120 active volcanoes and frequently experiences eruptions due to its location along the Pacific “Ring of Fire,” a series of seismic faults around the Pacific Ocean where most global seismic activity occurs.
Associated Press journalists Fadlan Syam in Jakarta and Edna Tarigan in Surabaya, contributed to this report.
Rescuers ride on a rubber boat during the search for the journalists who went missing while covering the eruption of Mount Anak Krakatau, in Pandeglang, Indonesia, Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Dziki Oktomauliyadi)
Jannah, center, the wife of the boat captain carrying journalists who went missing while covering the eruption of Mount Anak Krakatau, is comforted by relatives in Pandeglang, Indonesia, Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Dziki Oktomauliyadi)
In this photo released by the Indonesian National Search and Rescue Agency (BASARNAS), rescuers sit in a rubber boat during the search for journalists missing while covering the eruption of Mount Anak Krakatau, in the waters off Anyer, Indonesia, Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2026. (BASARNAS via AP)
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian strikes killed three people and wounded at least eight across Ukraine, officials said Friday, as Ukraine struggles to counter escalating Russian bombardments that have killed more than 50 people over the past three days.
One man was killed and five people were wounded in Russian strikes on Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region in the morning hours, said Mykhailo Semikin, the head of the regional military administration. He said the attacks hit residential areas and that a child was among the wounded.
Another man was killed in Ivano-Frankivsk in western Ukraine, Svitlana Onyshchuk, head of the regional military administration, reported.
A woman was also killed in a Russian attack on warehouse facilities in the district of Bucha in the Kyiv region, Ukraine’s Interior Ministry said on Telegram. Her body was found while clearing rubble and fighting a fire at the site, Tymur Tkachenko, head of the regional military administration, said Friday. Three people were wounded there.
Russia and Ukraine are locked in a long-range aerial war while their armies remain largely deadlocked on the front line, more than 4 1/2 years since Moscow’s full-scale invasion.
Elsewhere, a Ukrainian attack on Russia’s eastern Belgorod region killed two people Friday, the area’s regional emergency headquarters said. Regional governor Alexander Shuvayev said that 12 people had been wounded in Ukrainian strikes.
Russian attacks have killed dozens of civilians across Ukraine over the past three days using a mix of ballistic missiles and jet-powered drones. On Thursday, a Russian guided bomb exploded next to public buses filled with passengers in eastern Ukraine, killing 30 people.
A day earlier, a Russian missile strike killed 22 people, including five children, in the northern Ukrainian town of Pryluky.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has warned that Moscow will likely escalate daily attacks as winter approaches, putting pressure on Ukraine as it prepares for winter and hitting the infrastructure keeping its war-battered economy afloat. Recent Russian targets have included energy systems, key industries, railways, post offices, shopping centers, telecom networks, gas stations and grain exports.
The Ukrainian leader held a meeting with military officials and government members on Friday focusing on Ukraine’s energy and air defense needs.
“Unfortunately, there is a lot of damage to the power grid and electricity transmission facilities," he wrote on Telegram. "Repairs are going on around the clock."
The Kyiv city administration said on Telegram Friday that the Ukrainian capital would again set up government-built help stations that serve food and drinks and provide warmth and power — known as “points of invincibility” — in three districts of the city where the power situation was most difficult.
Zelenskyy appealed on Thursday for additional defense support from NATO countries, saying in an online post: “It is important that support in words takes concrete form in new packages for Ukraine’s defense.”
“Supplies of anti-ballistic capabilities, ammunition for our combat aircraft and investments in interceptors — all of this is directly helping save lives every day,” he said.
Without ammunition for its U.S.-made Patriot air defense systems, Ukraine can’t stop Russian ballistic weapons. It is racing to develop a new generation of interceptors fast enough to catch Moscow’s high-flying jet-propelled drones.
Meanwhile, a Ukrainian drone strike damaged a data center belonging to Russian technology giant Yandex, the company confirmed.
"As a result of a drone attack, part of Yandex data center infrastructure in Kaluga was affected. Several data center modules are completely out of service. This may cause some Yandex services to experience disruptions," Yandex's press service said and added it was “currently assessing the full extent of the damage.”
It also said that nobody had been injured.
It is the second time in two days that the company has been targeted, with an earlier drone attack Thursday taking a data center in Russia's western Ryazan region offline.
Zelenskyy confirmed the data center strike in a post on X. He also said that Kyiv's forces had hit the Ukhta oil refinery in Russia's Komi region. The region's head, Rostislav Goldstein, said earlier on Friday that there had been an attack on the town of Ukhta, but that there had been no damage.
The governor of the Kaluga region, Vladislav Shapsha, said Friday that nine people had been wounded by drone attacks on the region.
Meanwhile, Tver regional governor Vitaly Korolyov said a Ukrainian drone sparked a fire at a factory in Redkino. No casualties were reported.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said that its air defenses downed 505 Ukrainian drones from late Thursday until early Friday.
Davies reported from Manchester, England.
Follow the AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
A man looks through a broken window in a residential house damaged by a Russian strike in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, Friday, Oct. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Kateryna Klochko)
Local residents and emergency workers stand near a crater made by a Russian strike on residential neighbourhood in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, Friday, Oct. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Kateryna Klochko)
Local residents stand in front of building damaged by a Russian strike on residential neighbourhood in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, Friday, Oct. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Kateryna Klochko)
An elderly man sits on the bench in front of building damaged by a Russian strike on residential neighbourhood in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, Friday, Oct. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Kateryna Klochko)
Cars are seen damaged by a Russian strike on residential neighbourhood in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, Friday, Oct. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Kateryna Klochko)
