TABANAN, Bali — The plan was simple.
Climb one of Bali’s highest mountains.
Reach the summit.
Celebrate graduation.
Then go home.
Instead, three teenagers — including two Russian nationals and one Indonesian student — spent hours lost on Mount Batukaru before rescue teams found them deep in the mountain’s forested slopes on Friday.
All three survived.
The hikers were identified as Mario Luca, 17, from Karangasem, alongside two Russian nationals, Taisiya Chernosvitova, 18, and Nazar Krasnoruski, 18.
According to rescuers, all three were recent graduates of an international school in Denpasar.
They began climbing on Thursday morning.
The Way Up Went According To Plan
The group started their ascent at approximately 9:00 AM on Thursday using the Pura Petali route in Jatiluwih, one of the known access points for Mount Batukaru.
At first, nothing appeared unusual.
They reached the summit.
They began descending at approximately 3:00 PM.
That was when the problems started.
Somewhere during the return journey, the group lost orientation.
The trail disappeared.
Or perhaps they simply lost it.
Either way, they could no longer find their route down.
“One of the hikers contacted family members and informed them they were lost,” said Kadek Donny Indrawan, coordinator of the Buleleng Search and Rescue Post.
The family then contacted Indonesia’s National Search and Rescue Agency.
Waiting For Daylight
Search teams did not immediately enter the mountain overnight.
Instead, rescuers mobilized Friday morning.
Seven personnel from the Buleleng Search and Rescue Post joined other rescue elements at the Karyasari Village command post before beginning operations at approximately 9:00 AM.
Two hours later, rescuers found them.
At 11:00 AM.
The three hikers were located at coordinates 8°20’39.50″S – 115°5’2.70″E at approximately 1,899 meters above sea level.
“The hikers were found in stable condition despite being lost for quite some time in the Mount Batukaru area,” Donny said.
Back Down The Mountain
Finding them was only part of the operation.
The rescue teams still had to bring them down.
Evacuation toward Karyasari Village took approximately three hours.
At 2:05 PM Friday, all three hikers reached the command post safely.
They were later reunited with their families.
Why Mount Batukaru Is Different
Standing approximately 2,276 meters above sea level, Mount Batukaru is Bali’s second-highest mountain after Mount Agung.
Unlike Mount Batur, which receives large numbers of daily visitors and organized sunrise groups, Batukaru is quieter.
The trails are steeper.
The forests are denser.
Navigation becomes more difficult when daylight disappears.
For many hikers, reaching the summit is not necessarily the hardest part.
Getting back down can be.
This time, three teenagers who began the climb as graduates finished it as rescue survivors.
The celebration probably became something else entirely.
