Rescuers are still trying to reach a Brazilian tourist who fell into the crater of Indonesia’s 3,726m Mt. Rinjani on Saturday.
Juliana Marins, 26, rose before dawn to hike around the rim of the country’s second-largest volcano with a small guided group. But in the early-morning fog, she slipped over the edge of the trail and fell down a cliff into the crater.
Drone footage captured over the previous three days shows her alive and conscious, but rescuers have been unable to reach her.
Juliana Marins. Photo: Juliana Marins/Instagram
In and out of sight
Marins disappeared from the group around 6:30 am local time. Later on Saturday, she was heard screaming for help, and park authorities attempted to arrange a rescue. Drone footage showed her sitting in the grey soil, awake and moving, about 300m below the trail.
Drone footage of Juliana Marins captured on Saturday. Photo: Instagram
However, when rescuers descended to that point, they were unable to find her. They called out but received no response and were forced to climb back up to the rim. On Sunday, more drone footage confirmed that she was no longer in her original location.
On Monday morning, authorities found Marins again, even further down the slope. It appears that at some point on Saturday, she slid further down the cliff from where she was perched. Rescuers attempted to reach her again, but stopped a little under halfway down. They were reportedly able to send food and water down to her before retreating.
The crater of Rinjani, an active volcano in Indonesia. Photo: Wikimedia Commons
Weather hampering rescue
Hikers who had been with Marins on Saturday morning told the BBC that the weather had made the hike difficult: “It was really early, before sunrise, in bad visibility conditions with just a simple lantern to light up the terrain, which was difficult and slippery.”
The same dense fog and slippery ground underfoot forced rescuers to turn around on Monday.
Her family has set up an Instagram account to report on the situation and advocate for Marins’ rescue. Marins’ family is currently in contact with the company that led the hiking trip, through the Brazilian embassy in Jakarta.
They also expressed dismay that the park was still open and hikers were still undertaking the route from which she had fallen. Juliana is not the first visitor in recent years to fall into Rinjani. Just this May, a Malaysian man fell to his death while climbing the peak, and in 2022, a Portuguese tourist died in a similar fall.
