Featured Image Credit: ViralPress
Topics: Social Media, World News, Nature
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A chilling photograph shows the final moments of an 18-year-old girl before she's washed away by the ocean to her death.
Merlin Septiana and her friends ventured to Semeti Beach in Central Lombok Regency, Indonesia, on December 19 when the day went from happy yo tragedy in a split second.
Each of the schoolgirls reportedly took turns to pose for a picture on the rocky cliff by the edge of the thrashing Indian Ocean.
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When the 18-year-old's came, she posed for her snap and moments later, she had vanished beneath the waves.
In the image, the teen was seen wearing headphones, that may have blocked the sound of the sea crashing against the rocks.
The footage appears to show a wave had knocked Merlin from her precarious perch, and although she clung onto a boulder, seconds later she loses grip, slips and disappears into rough surf below.
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A harrowing video also shows her friends and locals frantically trying to find the girl who could be heard shouting and screaming.
Rescue teams were quickly deployed along the shores in hopes of finding the girl, but it was too late.
Lalu Wahyu Efendi, head of the Mataram Search and Rescue Office, said the incident happened at around 3pm local time and efforts to rescue the girl with 'makeshift tools' like fishing rods were sadly 'unsuccessful'.
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Merlin's lifeless body was sadly later found amongst the rocks just a little more than two hours later, at 5.13pm.
Her body has been sent home to her family in Tanak Awu village.
The girl's friends have since paid tribute to her on TikTok and Instagram, and have posted footage of Merlin in the moments before she died.
In one clip, she appears to extend her arms out to the sea in a carefree moment of joy.
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Ridwan Mak'ruf, chief executive of the Central Lombok Regional Disaster Management Agency (BPBD), said: "The girl's body was collected by the search and rescue team, the BPBD, and the police. However, she was already dead."
It isn't the first time youngsters have been taken away by the unforgiving waves.
On October 13, a 20-year-old man from North Sumatra was washed away as he stood on the rocks at the Kedung Tumpang Beach in East Java.
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The man, identified as Roni Josua Simanjuntak, had seemingly slipped into the water when waves crashed into the boulders and sent whitewater rushing inwards to where he was stood.
His body was found days later, on October 18, drifting off Karang Payung Beach.
The tragic news comes as Indonesia's beaches continue to pose a threat, not only to swimmers but those taking in the beautiful scenery as huge crashing waves mixed with strong rip tides can snatch life away in an instant.