Since last Friday, a silent and courageous chain of volunteers has taken over the slopes of Mount Rinjani, Indonesia. No bond with governments or institutions, tourists, local climbers, and experienced mountaineers came together to help search for 26 -year -old Juliana Marins, who plummeted about 500 meters in one of the trail trails towards the summit of the volcano. From the first images captured by drones to the rescue attempts, the commitment of this group was visible. Videos that circulate on social networks reveal how risk they risked, and netizens have classified them as “heroes,” even comparing their efforts to those of Indonesian government official teams.
Among the many anonymous faces that have launched on the slopes of Mount Rinjani in recent days, a name has gained prominence: Agam Rinjani. Born in Makassar, the largest city in the eastern region of Indonesia, Rinjani is a climber who collects adventures and expeditions. With over 400,000 Instagram followers, he is famous for his Lombok expeditions. Since the first reports about the fall of the Brazilian, Agam has set up a team and shared videos and updates while climbing the trail with a lantern on the helmet. “Gas, gas, gas,” he wrote in the caption of one of the posts.
In some images, it appears climbing the mountain with a cigarette in hand – a hero out of the standards, which, with charisma and courage, became a symbol of mobilization in the search for Juliana.
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Juliana, born in Niterói, was doing a backpack through Asia and had started the trail towards the summit of Mount Rinjani at dawn on Friday at the local time. The mount, in fact, is a volcano. Known tourist destination from the Asian country for trekking, Rinjani also names a national park on the island of Lombok, where it is located.
In one of the steep stretches on the trail, she would have stopped to rest. The accompanying guide went on and, upon noticing its absence, was late: the Brazilian had fallen into a deep cliff, covered with loose stones, volcanic sand and dense vegetation.
“My feelings for the death of the Brazilian mountaineer. I couldn’t do much, I could only help this way. May your good deeds be accepted by God. Amen!” Wrote Agam Rinjani, one of the guides involved in the rescue operation, which regretted social networks on Wednesday.
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The figure of the climber with a cigarette in hand arrived in Brazil in a mistaken way. Internet users, who confused him with a member of the Indonesian Fire Department or some official government team, even considered a “absurd” he behaves that way during the searches. But gradually they came to understand that, in fact, he was there his own will.
“Guys, they are volunteers, they are not receiving anything to be there and are risking their lives for the rescue of Juliana. Have respect and, above all, gratitude for the difficult and supportive work they are doing,” said a user in the climber post on Instagram.
From the first drone to the final rescue: the network of efforts for Juliana
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The first images of Juliana in the volcano were recorded by a group of Malaysian tourists, coming down Mount Rinjani at the time of the accident. They used a drone to locate the falling Brazilian on the cliff. The images, made on Saturday, were released with the objective of helping the family. As they saw Juliana, tourists wrote a note with the word “Wait” and thrown him toward her, and screaming instructions to keep her conscious.
The videos that circulate on the networks also show how Agam Rinjani and other climbers have formed a true human current in search of the Brazilian. Wearing red helmets, high thermal resistance clothing and traction boots, Agam’s team – with at least five members – seems to have joined Unit Sar Lombok Timur, an Indonesian regional search and rescue unit.
UNIT is an organization composed of volunteers and rescuers specializing in hard -to -reach land, such as Mount Rinjani. Together they also used a vertical rescue metal tripod, fundamental equipment to lift bodies or people trapped in extremely steep areas.
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The equipment – known as “Larkin Rescue Frame”, a common model in height rescue operations – was mounted on the edge of the gorge and supports climbing strings and carabiners, such as those that appear in the hands of one of the climbers in a photo shared by Tyo Survival, Instagram.
Under intense fog, the group appears one after another, connected by strings, cautiously descending by the slope. The scene, recorded in one of the videos, shows the volunteers’ attempt to get the most out of the place where Juliana had fallen. The visibility is almost null, and the slippery terrain required a lot of caution.
Despite the appearance of official operation, most faces that appear there, such as Agam, acted voluntarily. In a post this Wednesday, the community organization published:
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“Full mission! Thanks for prayers and support for Operation Sar Monte Rinjani for 5 days.”
Outside Agam, other volunteers gained prominence: the guides DWI Januanto Nugroho and Syamsul Padhli otonk, experienced in the Lombok region; the mountaineer Furqan Renggoo; and Surya Sangar Rinjani, dedicated to safety and rescues in mountain environments.
In a tribute published on Wednesday on social networks, the DWI Guide Januanto Nugroho-one of the volunteers who participated in the search for Juliana Marins-dedicated the song “Aku Dan Rinjani” to the Brazilian’s family. According to him, music talks about how the mountain transforms the worldview of those who venture into its trails. Dwi also pointed out that Juliana’s story on the slopes of Rinjani rekindled powerful messages of humanity: courage, solidarity, surrender and union.
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“I hope that Juliana Marins’s family in Brazil will accept the song offering. Among the various messages, Juliana’s story in Rinjani’s arms has aroused strong values of humanity: courage, care, sincerity and unity. My prayers always for climber Juliana Marins. Thanks for her dedication and struggle, teammates DWI Januanto Nugroho.
Understand the case
The region where Juliana was located, called Camara Nunggal, is between 2,600 and 3,000 meters altitude. The terrain, according to geologists, is composed of unstable layers of volcanic ash, coarse sand and rock fragments – an inheritance of rashes recorded since the Middle Ages. In the last decade, Mount Rinjani had at least four major explosions, the last in 2016.
In addition to altitude, which can exceed 3.7 thousand meters in the summit, volunteers faced negative temperatures, almost null visibility and the constant threat of landslides. The operation even involved six teams and two helicopters, but it was a land team that, coming down the slopes, managed to locate the Brazilian’s body almost four days after the accident.
Juliana was found lifeless, attached to a rocky, visibly immobile wall. The death confirmation was given by the family on Tuesday morning, after days of uncertainty and an intense campaign for information and logistical support.
