Two people were found dead with burns Friday after being trapped for almost two days in a bunker buried by volcanic materials on the slope of Mount Merapi in Indonesia.

The bunker was buried by hot sand and volcanic stones. Rescuers used excavator to dig through the volcanic materials Thursday but the evacuation was hampered by the hot sand and delayed until Friday.

"We also found hot sand inside the bunker and used timbers to step on," rescue worker Sukamto was quoted by the Detikcom news website as saying.

The victims, age 22 and 32, are identified as volunteers who helped evacuate refugees. They became the first casualties since Merapi was put under the highest alert status due to increasing volcanic activities in May.

The 2,968-meter volcano is located between Central Java and Yogyakarta, some 400 km east of Jakarta.

Source: Xinhua