Family of woman who died after falling into volcano is outraged, says authorities didn’t try to save her  

“Left her for dead”: The family of Juliana Marins says that appropriate search-and-rescue measures were never taken and the authorities lied about her well-being. 

The family of a 26-year-old Brazilian woman who died after falling into a volcano is speaking out, claiming that authorities in Indonesia didn’t do nearly enough to try to save her life and sent fake videos and information implying that she was okay, according to the Daily Beast. 

On Saturday, June 21, Juliana Marins was hiking with a group on the crater rim of Mount Rinjani, Indonesia’s second-largest volcano. According to her sister Marianna, Marins got tired while walking and asked the guide to stop for a while. Allegedly, the guide ignored her request and continued on with the rest of the hiking party, leaving her alone. The group left her for hours, during which time she fell nearly 1,600 feet off the edge of a cliff. 

Marins’ sister said, “She didn’t know where to go. She didn’t know what to do. When the guide came back because he saw that she was taking too long, he saw that she had fallen down there.”

According to witnesses, she was still alive; the group could hear her screams and see her flashlight. Soon after, though, Indonesian officials who promised to retrieve her stopped providing updates to the family, leaving them to seek out information through social media. The family claims that any updates that they did get included “conflicting, delayed, and often false information.”

Marianna said that the family received a fake rescue video and was provided with false information that she’d been supplied with food and water from Indonesian authorities. “The Indonesian government is lying, and the embassy is not verifying the facts before informing us. She is not receiving supplies.”

The search for Marins caught worldwide attention as people followed the efforts via social media. Ultimately, the search-and-rescue was unsuccessful. Marins passed away at some point while waiting to be rescued. Her family claims that the authorities essentially “left her for dead.” 

Marins’ father also blamed the Brazilian embassy for not providing support to the family. “The embassy is not offering any support. The Brazilian government, which we’ve tried to contact, is also not helping us. This is very sad and extremely serious. She is a 26-year-old girl, a Brazilian citizen, and no one—except family and friends—seems to care.”

On social media, Marins’ family shared that, “Juliana suffered great negligence on the part of the rescue team. If the team had reached her within the estimated time of 7 hours, Juliana would still be alive. Juliana deserved much more! Now we are going to seek justice for her, because that is what she deserves! Don’t give up on Juliana!”

According to Marianna, the efforts to rescue her sister were being held up for various reasons, including weather and visibility, but she said mostly, the authorities were unprepared to execute a proper rescue. She said they tried to reach her with a rope that was too short, and even released a video of a staged rescue that wasn’t an actual rescue attempt of her sister. 

On Tuesday, the family shared via social media, “Today, the rescue team managed to reach the place where Juliana Marins was. With great sadness, we inform you that she did not survive. We remain very grateful for all the prayers, messages of affection and support that we have received.”

The Mount Rinjani National Park administration shared a statement of condolences to the family via social media. 

“The entire family of the Mount Rinjani National Park Office expresses its deepest condolences on the death of Juliana De Souza Pereira Marins, a Brazilian climber who passed away on the hiking trail in the Mount Rinjani National Park area. We express our deepest condolences to the family, friends and colleagues of the victim. May they receive strength and courage to face this disaster. Rinjani shares our condolences, the nature she loved witnessed her last steps.”