At first glance, his face radiates warmth—like an old friend ready to accept you just as you are. With an easy, playful smile and a slightly boyish look, you’d never guess that Khafid As’adi was the first person to discover the body of Brazilian mountaineer Juliana Marins, who tragically perished on Mount Rinjani recently.
His role as a rescuer with Indonesia’s National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas) brought him face-to-face with that grim reality. Speaking to Lingkar Bumi in Lombok in early August 2025, Khafid recalled the experience with a thoughtful pause.
“It was heartbreaking to see her, already gone. I had tried my best to reach her as quickly as I could,” he said when asked about his first moments upon finding Juliana’s body.
According to Khafid, extreme weather and the challenging terrain made the search incredibly difficult. On the third day of the operation, he was part of the first team to descend 400 meters down the cliff. Beyond that point, the terrain became even more treacherous—ropes risked fraying against jagged rock, and finding secure anchors was extremely difficult.
The situation worsened when they realized the ropes they had were insufficient. Khafid had to climb back up to secure more equipment—additional anchors and ropes—before descending again and spending the night 400 meters down the cliff.
The Day of Discovery
On the morning of the fourth day, Khafid set additional anchors and descended further toward the 600-meter mark—the area where drone footage suggested Juliana might be.
The weather had turned misty. Showing a video on his phone, Khafid described the scene: darkened rock surfaces, scattered debris, and—among them—a motionless body, cold and still.
“When I reached her, I immediately checked her condition. She had already passed away. Both her legs were broken, and one arm as well,” Khafid recounted.
After confirming her death, he radioed the team above, who sent down a stretcher and body bag.
The Ascent Back to the Surface
That same day, Juliana’s remains were placed into the body bag, secured in the stretcher, and tightly fastened. However, due to limited daylight and deteriorating weather, the team could not bring her back up immediately.
Instead, they made the decision to spend the night on the cliffside—accompanying Juliana until morning. On the fifth day, the extraction began.
“It didn’t take long—just about three hours to get her to the top,” explained Khafid, who is also a father to a young daughter.
The successful recovery became the focus of widespread attention. Regardless of the challenges faced, the perseverance and determination shown by the search and rescue team in this operation remain truly commendable. (Sulung Prasetyo)
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