Autopsy details are emerging about the tragic passing of a Brazilian tourist named Juliana Marins, who fell while climbing an active volcano in Indonesia on a group tour.
The report shows she lost her life approximately 20 minutes after sustaining her injuries.
The timeline of the autopsy calls into question earlier reports that say she had fallen twice, and had survived the first fall.
Juliana Marins likely lost her life in less than half an hour after being injured
An official autopsy carried out by Indonesian authorities shows that the 26-year-old Brazilian national likely passed due to blunt force trauma that resulted in severe internal bleeding.
The autopsy says she likely lost her life about 20 minutes after sustaining injuries on Mount Rinjani, the country’s second largest volcano, on Lombok Island.
Mount Rinjani is an active volcano, but was not active at the time of Marins’ accident.
The last time it erupted was in October of 2015 when ashes from the 12,000-foot volcano prompted the government to shut down air traffic to several airports.
Initial autopsy reports show Marins sustained massive internal bleeding
The post-mortem examination was conducted at the Bali Mandara Hospital.
According to Australian news website, news.au.com, Dr. Ida Bagus Putu Alit, a forensic pathologist involved in the examination, said her body was covered in extensive injuries.
“The most critical damage was found in the respiratory system,” news.au reports.
Alit noted the multiple injuries to her chest and back, where vital internal organs are located.
“There was an extraordinary amount of internal bleeding in the chest cavity,” news.au quoted Alit as saying.
Experts say Marins likely passed quickly after sustaining the fatal blows
Although Marins also suffered head trauma, Dr. Alit clarified that this was not the principal factor in her passing.
He elaborated that there were no signs of prolonged bleeding—such as a collapsed spleen—suggesting the trauma was rapidly fatal.
“Her passing happened quickly after sustaining the injuries,” he told the outlet.
While Dr. Alit did not personally visit the accident site, he said that this kind of trauma typically results from hard, flat surfaces.
But that timeline of her passing contradicts earlier reports that Marins had fallen twice, and that she was alive after the first fall.
Marins likely sustained scrapes and scratches as she tumbled down the side of the volcano
The terrain of Mount Rinjani’s slopes is made up of coarse sand, gravel, and stones, which corresponds to abrasions and lacerations that were found on Marins’ body.
The forensic experts said that Marins’ body was badly damaged as she tumbled down the side of the volcano.
The most serious injuries, according to the autopsy, were to her back and limbs, including a fractured femur in her left thigh.
The exact moment Marins lost her life is still unclear, even after the autopsy report
Previous reports say that Marins fell during the early hours of Saturday June 28th.
But in drone footage captured by nearby trekkers, she appeared to be alive after plummeting around 200 meters.
The drone video shows Marins sitting on the rocky slope, alive, but with visible signs of distress, as others called out to her from above.
News.au says rescuers attempted to retrieve her immediately after the first fall, but could not find her when they scaled down into the volcano to look for her.
Her body was eventually found significantly farther down, at roughly 600 meters, several days later.
This has led to speculation that she may have suffered a second fall, which proved fatal.
The fact that Marins’ body was put into a freezer could affect speculation about her time of passing
Forensic experts said that when her body was finally collected on Tuesday, it was put into a mortuary freezer.
This might have affected experts’ predictions on her time of passing.
News.au spoke to Dr. Iwan Aflanie, Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs at Lambung Mangkurat University who said discrepancies like these are common.
“Time of passing is usually presented within a range,” Aflanie told the outlet.
He said it’s typically assessed using signs like livor mortis, which is when blood pools in cadavers, and rigor mortis, when a cadaver’s muscle stiffens, and decomposition.
Experts rule out hypothermia, starvation after autopsy report
Other questions about whether Marins suffered dehydration, starvation, or hypothermia were also ruled out.
News.au said that Dr. Alit: “saw no indications of hypothermia—such as blackened fingertips”—but noted they couldn’t examine her eye fluid, the standard test for such a condition, because of the mortuary freezing.
Even though temperatures on the volcano can approach freezing at night, and Marins fell without any equipment or gear, Dr. Alit said that the “injuries and bleeding were too severe to consider hypothermia as a contributing factor.”
An additional toxicology report is expected to be completed in two weeks time.
But Dr. Alit said the test is routine, and doesn’t suggest that drugs or alcohol were a factor in the accident.
Marins’ family have said they are going to conduct another autopsy when her body arrives back in Brazil.
Heartbreaking final text messages show Marins loved her family
At the time, Marins had been traveling around Southeast Asia.
News reports say she had visited countries like Vietnam and Thailand before Indonesia.
Heartbreaking text messages she sent her family at the start of her trip were recently made public and show the young woman’s kindness and how she loved her family.
“Mami, I love you so much. It broke my heart when we said goodbye,” she wrote. “I’m only worried about disappointing you, papi, or my sister. Other than that, I’m not afraid of anything—not even the challenges.”
Netizens are saddened and stunned at how something like this could have happened and what might have been done to avoid it
