The death toll from Indonesia's Marapi volcano eruption has risen to 22 as rescuers found more climbers who had died near the crater, the head of the West Sumatra rescue agency said, up from 13 earlier in the day.
About 200 rescuers will resume search operations tomorrow for one further missing climber.
The 2,891-metre-high volcano in West Sumatra erupted on Sunday, spewing ash as high as 3km into the sky.
"We are now evacuating the dead bodies from the peak of the volcano," said the head of the search and rescue team, Abdul Malik.
Images shared by national search and rescue agency Basarnas showed a rescue team of six in orange jackets and hard hats carrying a body down the side of the volcano.
The volcano was still erupting this morning, according to officials, hampering the rescue efforts of more than 200 personnel.
Rescuers were attempting manual evacuations, walking to the top of the volcano and evacuating the victims on stretchers because of ongoing eruptions and poor visibility, said Hendri, a local rescue official who like many Indonesians goes by one name.
Ahmad Rifandi, head of Marapi's monitoring post, told AFP it had observed five eruptions from midnight to 8am local time.
"Marapi is still very much active. We can't see the height of the column because it's covered by the cloud," he said.
Volcanic ash was still falling around an information post at the base of the mountain where Marapi was not visible, according to an AFP journalist.
The head of Indonesia's volcanology agency, Hendra Gunawan, said Marapi has been at the second level of a four-tier alert system since 2011, and a three-kilometre exclusion zone had been imposed around its crater.
He appeared to blame hikers yesterday for going too close to the crater, saying the agency recommended no human activities in that zone, and emphasised that "severe impacts" were reported for victims within one to 1.5km from the crater.
Marapi is one of the most active volcanoes on Sumatra island and last erupted in January and February this year.
Since 2011, Indonesia's volcanology agency has urged a local conservation agency and the environment ministry in monthly letters to close an area within 3km radius of the summit to climbers, Mr Gunawan told Reuters.
Still, there were 75 climbers on the volcano when it erupted, rescuers said.
Ahmad Basuki, another official at the volcanology agency, said the body could only issue safety warnings, and that it was up to the environment ministry and local authorities to enforce them.
The environment ministry did not immediately respond to questions from Reuters.
The conservation agency, which is under the ministry, said permits to climb were given after getting the green light from several local agencies, including the West Sumatra provincial government and national disaster agency, as well the Padang search and rescue agency.
The search and rescue agency declined to comment.
The national disaster agency did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
West Sumatra's provincial government was not immediately reachable for comment.
Sunday's eruption of Mount Marapi was the deadliest since 1979, when an eruption killed 60 people.
The volcano's eruptions have been relatively infrequent over the past decade, making it challenging to analyse, Mr Basuki said.
He said: "Because we cannot record any seismic activity, the volcano gives no clear sign if it is going to erupt."
"The character of this volcano is dangerous." he added.
'Still hope'
Officials said the hikers had registered through an online booking system, but others may have been on illegal mountain routes.
Relatives were still waiting for updates at the information centre at the base of the mountain.
A total of 75 hikers were listed by officials as hiking on the mountain since Saturday, with some of the 49 initially accounted for suffering burns and fractures.
Those killed were severely burned and forensic workers were preparing to identify the dead by dental and fingerprint records, or based on marks on their bodies, said Eka Purnamasari, an official from the West Sumatra police medical unit.
Locals described the carnage when the volcano burst to life on Sunday.
"The villagers were shocked because of the thundering noise, then there was a jolt and also a boom. The villagers were very traumatised by the eruption," said Adrizal, head of local village Nagari Lasi.
Mount Marapi, which means "Mountain of Fire", is the most active volcano on Sumatra island.
Indonesia experiences frequent seismic and volcanic activity due to its position on the Pacific "Ring of Fire", where tectonic plates collide.
The archipelago nation has nearly 130 active volcanoes.
