A witness account reported that the hem of the tourist’s long skirt got tangled with her foot, resulting in her losing her balance and plunging to her death.
Social media was in uproar due to a report from the Ijen Volcano Complex, Banyuwangi, East Java. A tourist from China, identified by her initials HL, was found dead after falling from a cliff and plunging into the Ijen Crater on Saturday, the 20th of April, 2024.
According to information obtained by the authorities, the 31-year-old HL and her husband visited the Ijen Volcano Complex to see the famous blue fire that emanated from the crater. Joining a sightseeing group led by an Indonesian tour guide named Guswanto, the two initially headed for the top of Mount Ijen before descending to visit the crater at sunrise.
Seconds before HL slipped from what turned out to be a cliff, she was seen busily taking photographs with her husband. Witness accounts reported that the hem of HL’s long skirt got tangled with her foot, resulting in her losing her balance and plunging to her death.
Junaedi, representing the local police department, explained that even though HL did not plunge into the blue fire, she was already dead by the time the evacuation team found her body, most likely due to fall-related trauma injuries. It took two hours for the evacuation team to retrieve HL’s deceased body from the crater before it was transported to a local hospital in Blambangan, East Java.
“The victim suffered from injuries caused by the impact, as well as a broken leg,” Junaedi told the press as well.
On a separate occasion, Sandiaga Uno, the current Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy, offered his condolences to the victim’s family and cautioned all tourists to pay heed to safety.
“Ijen Crater, especially at sunrise, is a very sought-after spot among tourists. That is why safety should always be first and foremost. All tourists must be guided, and we must ensure that they follow the rules,” Uno remarked to the press on the following Monday (22nd of April).