Yahoo – AFP,
Satish Cheney, 6 June 2015
A strong
earthquake that jolted Malaysia's Mount Kinabalu has killed at least
11 people
and left another eight missing on Southeast Asia's highest peak,
a government
official says (AFP Photo)
|
Kundasang
(Malaysia) (AFP) - A strong earthquake that jolted Mount Kinabalu in Malaysia
has left 13 people dead and another six missing on Southeast Asia's highest
peak, an official said Saturday.
The
6.0-magnitude quake struck early Friday near the picturesque mountain, a popular
tourist destination, sending landslides and huge granite boulders tumbling down
from its wide, 4,095-metre-high (13,435-foot) crown.
A Malaysian
soldier carries victims body
parts inside a rucksack, a day after a
powerful
earthquake Mount Kinabalu, on
June 6, 2015 (AFP Photo/Mohd Rasfan)
|
Malaysian
media reports have said the dead included members of a Singapore primary school
group on an excursion to the mountain, including a 12-year-old girl who was
killed, as well as a local Malaysian climbing guide.
"It's
very sad. The Singapore children were so happy when they arrived here, but
now..." Masidi Manjun, tourism minister for the Malaysian state of Sabah
on Borneo island, told reporters.
Rescuers
earlier on Saturday finished escorting down to safety 137 hikers who were stuck
on the mountain for up to 18 hours after the quake damaged a key trail and they
faced the threat of continuing rockfalls.
Crews and
officials engaged in further search and rescue efforts were kept on edge,
however, by aftershocks including a Saturday afternoon temblor that Malaysian
officials rated at 4.5-magnitude.
It sent
staff and journalists scurrying out of the park's headquarters.
Reports
said most people on the mountain when the quake hit were Malaysian but that
they also included hikers from Singapore, the United States, the Philippines,
Britain, Thailand, Turkey, China and Japan.
Pieces of
paper showing various Malaysian rescue teams mark their current
positions on a
summit trail information board, heading towards Mount Kinabalu
(AFP Photo/Mohd
Rasfan)
|
'Rocks
raining down fast'
Authorities
have not provided a breakdown or given details on the number of injured.
Major
earthquakes are rare in Malaysia and the tremor was one of the strongest in
decades, jolting a wide area of Sabah and sending people fleeing outdoors.
But there
have been no reports of major damage, nor any casualties outside of those on
the mountain.
Masidi said
all climbing would be suspended at Mount Kinabalu for at least three weeks to
allow for repairs to damaged trails, accommodation and other facilities.
Malaysia's
Bernama news agency quoted a climber describing his terror as the quake
unleashed a shower of large stones from the rocky peak.
"Rocks
were raining down fast, like rock blasting," Lee Yoke Fah, a 60-year-old
Malaysian who suffered minor injuries, was quoted as saying.
"I am
not going to climb again, I am scared."
Mount
Kinabalu is among the top tourist attractions in a state famed for its
rainforests, wild rivers and coral reefs.
Around
20,000 complete the relatively easy climb each year, usually taking two days.
The force
of the tremor was so strong that it toppled one of the two "Donkey's Ears",
towering twin rock outcroppings that form a distinctive part of the peak's
profile.
Mount
Kinabalu is sacred to the local Kadazan Dusun tribe, who consider it a resting
place for departed spirits.
Malaysian
social media users and some officials have suggested the quake was a sign the
spirits were angry after a group of 10 apparently Western men and women
tourists last weekend snapped nude photos at the summit and posted them on the
Internet.
"This
will certainly bring misfortune... we can't play with the spirit of the sacred
mountain," deputy state chief minister Joseph Pairin Kitingan told
reporters Saturday.
He called
for the tourists to be brought to justice.
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