Two foreign nationals from Russia, who were trapped under the cliffs of the Uluwatu area, Pecatu Village, South Kuta District, Badung Regency, Bali, were successfully evacuated by the Bali Basarnas Office using a helicopter.
The foreigners—a woman with the initials DZ (21), who was staying in Seminyak, and a man with the initials SS (52), who was staying in Ungasan—were trapped under the cliffs at coordinates 8°48’03.8″S – 115°07’01.7″E at around 1.30 PM local time on Thursday, 23 April.
The initial report came from El Kabron Bali Beach Club, which received a call from an unknown person claiming to be trapped on a cliff and requesting help. The information was relayed to the South Kuta Police and the Denpasar Police’s Water Police Unit before they coordinated with the Bali Search and Rescue Office.
A National Search and Rescue Agency team of eight personnel then moved to the scene to conduct rescue efforts. However, the steep and inaccessible terrain of the cliff made land evacuation impossible, so the team decided to use a helicopter.
The SGI Benoa helicopter arrived at the scene on the same day at around 2.58 PM local time and immediately carried out an evacuation using the hoisting method. The two victims were successfully lifted from the cliff and flown safely to the SGI Benoa heliport.
“The evacuation process went smoothly, and both victims were rescued alive,” confirmed the Head of Public Relations of Denpasar Police, First Inspector I Gede Adi Saputra Jaya.
Based on the situation on the ground, the two foreigners are believed to have swum to Cemongkak Beach wearing life jackets. However, the tide was high, so when they tried to swim back, they were swept back by the waves and became trapped under the cliffs, sustaining injuries to their arms from being scraped by coral.
“There were no significant problems, but the [evacuation] process needed to go faster because the waves were quite high, and we were using hoisting, [which means] we evacuated the victims one by one,” said the Head of the Denpasar Search and Rescue Office, I Nyoman Sidakarya.
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