The warning sign forbidding travelers not to venture within 1.5 kilometers of the summit of the Ijen volcano did not deter Hendri Irawan, 22, from Banyuwangi, East Java. The temptation to behold the caldera's wonder was too great. 'The scene offers an exotic, unique, rare spectacle,' he told Tempo.

Last year, Banyuwangi's Disaster Mitigation Board placed the crater under high alert. Warning signs have been put up along the road that leads to Paltuding