China tourist dies in plunge from cliff while posing for photo next to famous tree at Indonesia volcano
- Couple visit Ijen volcano park, see famous ‘blue fire’, watch sunrise
- Husband takes photo as wife’s dress gets caught, she plummets 75 metres
A tourist from China who was posing for photos at a famous volcano in Indonesia has died after she accidentally stepped on her dress and tumbled down a cliffside.
The 31-year-old woman, surnamed Huang, and her husband were part of a tour group to Ijen – a volcano tourism park in the province of East Java.
They climbed to the edge of the crater to see the famous “blue fire” scenery and watch the sunrise on April 20, the Xiaoxiang Morning Herald reported.
Huang stood next to an upright dead tree – a famous landmark at the park that has been filmed and posted many times on social media – for her husband to take photos of her with the volcano as the backdrop.
She ignored warnings from the tour guide who told her it was “very dangerous” on that spot, the report said.
The woman’s long dress caught on something, and she tripped and plummeted about 75 metres down a cliff.
The accident happened just after 6am and it took local rescuers two hours of searching for Huang, who was pronounced dead when they found her.
Rescuers carried her body down the mountain at about 11pm.
Police ruled Huang’s death an accident, noting the woman had suffered multiple injuries and a fractured left leg.
“The victim fell 75 metres after slipping from the edge of a ravine. She was seriously injured after hitting rocks, and died of severe injuries to her head and body,” an officer said.
In his distress Huang’s husband repeatedly banged his head against the hospital’s walls while calling relatives to tell them the tragic news, the report said.
Ijen has become a well-known tour destination on mainland social media since last year thanks to the popularity of a documentary, Fire of Love, about a French couple travelling to volcanoes around the globe.
Many tourists flock to Ijen’s crater to witness the “blue fire” phenomenon, which is blue light emitted from the combustion of sulphuric gases.
On Xiaohongshu, China’s Instagram, some users shared their experience of visiting Ijen and highlighted the dangers there, but said the breathtaking view and the trip are worthwhile.
Huang’s death has reminded people of a number of similar tragedies in China during the past few years resulting from people posing for photos in dangerous places.
In 2019, a China university student died from falling down Huashan Mountain in the northwest of the country when she was leaning her head back to take a selfie.
Last year, after a man released pictures of himself sitting on the edge of a crag in Fujian province in southeastern China with the comment: “It’s too cool to take photos near a cliff,” some of his followers on Xiaohongshu said they would do the same.
