Five climbers struck by lightning on Monrolo Peak, one dead

Five climbers were struck by lightning on Monrolo Peak in Maros Regency, South Sulawesi, on Sunday (24 May) afternoon. One person was reported dead, while four others survived the incident which occurred as weather conditions suddenly worsened.

The deceased was identified as Fauzan, 25, a resident of Bonto Tallasa Village in Simbang Subdistrict, Maros Regency. He was the only climber unable to be rescued after lightning struck the group at approximately 1,109 metres above sea level.

Muh. Arif Anwar, Head of the Makassar Basarnas Office, stated that the incident is estimated to have occurred at 5:20 PM WITA. ‘At that time, the five victims had just reached the mountain peak and were about to take photographs when rain suddenly began. Amidst these conditions, lightning struck the climbing group,’ Arif explained on Monday (25 May).

The report of the disaster was first received by Makassar Basarnas at 8:28 PM WITA, approximately three hours after the incident. In response, a joint team of 22 personnel was immediately deployed.

They comprised personnel from Basarnas, Maros Fire and Rescue, Maros Disaster Management Agency, SAR Unhas, Saukang Explore community, TRC Teman Berlibur Indonesia, Maros Red Cross, potential SAR resources, and local residents.

The team arrived at the base of Monrolo Mountain at 11:30 PM WITA and immediately began a night-time ascent to evacuate the victims. However, the terrain posed the greatest challenge.

Monrolo Mountain is known for its steep and rugged rock formations, requiring the team to use safety ropes at several points to continue ascending.

‘The mountain is steep and rocky, with several sections requiring the team to use ropes due to the extremely treacherous terrain. These technical difficulties caused the rescue operation to take longer,’ Arif Anwar said.

After battling the terrain throughout the night, the team finally reached the victims’ location at the peak at 5:50 AM WITA on Monday (25 May). The evacuation of Fauzan’s body from the peak to the mountain base took approximately three and a half hours, concluding at 9:20 AM WITA.

All surviving victims were also successfully evacuated. Fauzan’s body was transported to Tompobulu Public Health Centre by ambulance. To expedite the evacuation, a second joint team of 20 personnel was deployed at 8:00 AM WITA.

The SAR operation was officially concluded at 9:26 AM WITA. All lightning strike victims at Monrolo Mountain were successfully evacuated.