This is the tragic moment a teenager was washed away to her death while posing for a photo on a rocky beach, as locals desperately tried to save her life.
Merlin Septiana, 18, had arrived with her friends to take photos at Semeti Beach in Central Lombok Regency on December 19.
She was seen in one picture taken seconds before being struck wearing headphones that may have blocked the noise of the waves.
The excited schoolgirls took turns posing on a rocky cliff but a rogue wave knocked Merlin off her craggy perch.
Footage shows frantic locals trying to rescue Merlin, seen in the video desperately clinging onto a boulder as the churning waters battered her. But she soon slipped and disappeared under the foamy white torrent.
Lalu Wahyu Efendi, head of the Mataram Search and Rescue Office, said the incident happened at around 3pm local time.
He said: ‘Efforts by her friends to help using makeshift tools such as wood and fishing rods were unsuccessful. Local residents immediately reported to the police.’
Rescue teams and policemen were dispatched to search along the shores. They found Merlin’s limp corpse being thrashed against rocks at 5:13 pm.
Ridwan Mak’ruf, chief executive of the Central Lombok Regional Disaster Management Agency (BPBD), said: ‘The girl’s body was collected by the search and rescue team, the BPBD, and the police. However, she was already dead.’
Merlin’s body has been returned to her family in Tanak Awu village.
On October 13, a male student was also washed away by a wave at a beach cliff in Indonesia.
Roni Josua Simanjuntak, 20, from North Sumatra, was standing on wet rocks with several friends when the wave crashed into boulders sending whitewater rushing inwards at the Kedung Tumpang Beach in East Java on October 13.
His corpse was found drifting face-down off Karang Payung Beach on October 18.
Indonesia’s beaches, though stunning, pose several dangers including strong rip currents, rogue waves, and unpredictable tides that can make swimming perilous, especially for inexperienced swimmers.
