A Brazilian tourist trapped for days when she plunged off a cliff next to an active volcano in Indonesia was found dead Tuesday — after frantic efforts to save her were repeatedly thwarted by bad weather.
Juliana Marins, a 26-year-old pole-dancing publicist, had been hiking with a group of friends on Mount Rinjani — a popular tourist site in the Southeast Asian archipelago — when she slipped and fell about 490 feet down the cliff face Saturday morning, according to Indonesian authorities.
As of Monday, the vacationer had slipped to more than 1,600 feet.
Initial “screams for help” from Marins were heard, and drone footage showed her still alive after her first fall. But rescue crews were unable to reach her because of the thick fog engulfing the volcano and other adverse conditions.
In addition to the visibility issues, the head of the local rescuers, Muhammad Hariyadi, said the young woman had become trapped on soft sand, making it difficult to try and retrieve her with ropes.
Two futile rescue attempts were made, authorities said.
“After four days of work, hindered by adverse weather, terrain and visibility conditions in the region, teams from Indonesia’s Search and Rescue Agency found the body of the Brazilian tourist,” Brazil’s government said in a statement Tuesday.
It wasn’t immediately clear when Marins died — or if workers were able to retrieve her body yet. The US Sun said she worked as a publicist in Brazil, and her Instagram showed she also was a pole dancer.
Her grief-stricken family said in a statement, “Today the rescue team checked the location where Juliana Marins was.
“With much sadness we have to report that she did not survive. We remain very grateful for all the prayers, messages of love and support we have received.”
Roughly 50 people were involved in the search.
In the wake of the discovery, the Mount Rinjani hiking track was closed to helped the evacuation effort and out of respect to Marins and her family, Indonesian Forestry Minister Raja Juli Antoni said.
With Post wires
