Authorities partially close Mt. Rinjani in Indonesia after two accidents involving foreign climbers

The Star

19-07-2025

JAKARTA: Management of Mount Rinjani National Park in West Nusa Tenggara have announced a partial closure of the mountain following a series of climbing accidents involving foreign tourists, with officials stating that the temporary closure is intended to improve safety measures along the hiking routes.
Officials stated that the affected routes include the section from the Pelawangan Post, located at an altitude of 2,600 meters above sea level, down to the popular Segara Anak crater lake.
This trail is one of the most frequented paths by climbers due to its scenic beauty, but it is also known for its challenging and often treacherous terrain.
The park management has also temporarily suspended online ticket sales for new visitors until further notice.
'Visitors who have already purchased tickets are still allowed to summit the mountain via other routes, but access to the Segara Anak lake is currently prohibited,' said Yarman, head of Mount Rinjani National Park on Thursday (July 17), as quoted by Tempo.co.
Nearly 6,000 people have secured tickets to enter Mount Rinjani through the end of the year, with over 5,000 expected to arrive during the latter half of July and throughout August.
Yarman said that during the closure, officials will focus on improving safety measures in 'extreme' areas along the route from Pelawangan Post to Segara Anak Lake.
Planned improvements include the installation of safety ropes and the removal of hazardous rocks.
'A significant number of climbing accidents on Mount Rinjani have occurred along this stretch. Our team has recorded and analysed the incidents to determine what kinds of safety improvements are needed on the route,' he said.
The decision to partially close the mountain came after two foreign climbers fell into ravines near Segara Anak Lake on Wednesday and Thursday.
Danish climber Sarah Tamar van Hulten fell into a ravine on Mount Rinjani at approximately 2pm on Thursday.
She sustained head injuries and was airlifted from the mountain to a hospital on nearby Bali Island at around 5pm.
According to authorities, Van Hulten fell near the same location where another climber, 45-year-old Swiss national Benedikt Emmenegger, fell into a ravine just a day earlier.
The circumstances of the accident remain unclear, but Noer Isrodin Muchlisin, director of preparedness at the National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas), said that Emmenegger sustained broken legs and arms, as well as severe facial bruising from the fall.
He was also immediately airlifted to a hospital in Bali to receive emergency treatment. Emmenegger and Van Hulten are the third and fourth foreign tourists to suffer serious accidents on Mount Rinjani in the past month.
Safety on the 3,727-meter peak has come under intense scrutiny following the tragic death of Juliana De Souza Pereira Marins, a 27-year-old Brazilian hiker who fell into a 600-meter-deep ravine last month.
Marins fell at Cemara Nunggal, a narrow, treacherous section near the summit, on June 21.
However, rescue efforts were severely hampered by poor weather and difficult terrain.
Rescuers were only able to reach her on the night of June 24, when they found that she had already passed away.
Marins' family has expressed frustration over what they described as slow and inadequate evacuation efforts by Indonesian authorities, especially given that it was widely believed at the time that she had survived the fall.
Their sentiments were widely echoed by Brazilian netizens, many of whom questioned the competence of the rescue teams and criticized what they saw as a lack of proper equipment to carry out the operation.
Some went as far as to claim that Marins did not die from the fall itself, but as a result of the delayed rescue efforts.
An autopsy by Indonesian forensic experts determined that Marins died roughly 20 minutes after falling into the ravine.
However, a subsequent autopsy conducted in Brazil revealed that she likely survived for at least 32 hours before falling further down the ravine, where she ultimately died.
Amid mounting controversy over Marins' rescue operation, experts and observers have urged authorities to reevaluate the hiking routes on Mount Rinjani, install permanent safety ropes and add more warning signs to prevent further accidents.
There were 273 climbing accidents recorded in Mount Rinjani National Park between 2016 and 2024, which resulted in 17 deaths and over 200 injuries.
Foreign tourists accounted for at least 44 of those incidents.
In May, a 57-year-old Malaysian hiker, Rennie Abdul Ghani, died after falling from a cliff on Mt. Rinjani.
In October of last year, 16-year-old Kaifat Rafi Mubarok from Jakarta was also found dead after a fatal fall from a cliff on the mountain. - The Jakarta Post/ANN