Elmi Febrianti had come to the Apparalang cliffs in Bulukumba regency with her family and walked out with a friend onto a wooden platform that juts over the sea, a spot prized for photographs. A wave hit the cliff edge and knocked her into the water at around 2:30 p.m. on June 7, the head of the Bulukumba disaster agency, Andi Hasbullah, told detikSulsel.
Footage filmed by other visitors and shared widely on Indonesian social media showed her waving for help and fighting the swell while onlookers on the cliff, unable to reach her in the heavy surf, could only watch.
A joint search team recovered her body around midnight after a nearly nine-hour operation, the agency told Kumparan. She was found floating about 1.5 kilometers from where she fell.
Her death drew a swift official response. Bulukumba police opened an inquiry into possible negligence by the site’s operators, with the local criminal investigation chief, Andi Imran Hamid, saying officers would question witnesses and the operators and gather evidence, detikSulsel reported.
The police chief, Restu Wijayanto, said Apparalang had been closed and cordoned off both to prevent another death and to allow the investigation. The regional legislature summoned the operator, the tourism office and the national search and rescue agency to a hearing on June 9, its deputy speaker, Syahruni Haris, said.
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Elmi Febrianti, 17, drowned after a wave swept her off a clifftop photo spot at the Apparalang tourist site in South Sulawesi on June 7, 2026. Photo courtesy of Facebook |
The case is the latest in a run of fatal incidents at Indonesian attractions. In late May, a suspension bridge on the trail to the Cunca Wulang waterfall in West Manggarai, on the island of Flores, gave way under two Austrian tourists, who fell onto the rocks below and died.
The Flores news outlet Floresa, which dated the collapse to May 24, reported that an inspection afterward found a worn structure, loose planks, no warning signs and no insurance for visitors.
German news agency dpa reported a larger fall height, one of several details on which accounts differ.
Police are examining whether the operator was negligent, CNN Indonesia reported.
Weeks earlier, in West Java, a 39-year-old Saudi man died after his jet ski capsized off Bubalu Beach in Pelabuhanratu when it was apparently struck by a large wave, Gulf News reported, citing local police.
Bystanders pulled him from the sea but he died of his injuries, and the Saudi Embassy in Jakarta arranged to repatriate his body.
