Earthquake Hits Malaysian Mount Kinabalu

At least 160 people were trapped on one
of the highest mountains in Southeast
Asia on Friday after a 6.0-magnitude
earthquake struck the island of Borneo,
officials said.
The epicenter was around five miles
from the summit of Mount Kinabalu, a
13,500-foot peak in the Malaysian part
of the island that is a hot spot for
climbers and trekkers.
Several climbers were injured in the
tremor, which also badly damaged
several mountain huts and triggered
boulder and rockfalls, according to
Masidi Manjun, tourism minister for
Malaysia’s Sabah state.
“Other than ongoing rescue efforts, our
priority is to send food, drinks and
warm clothing to those still stranded at
the mountain,” Manjun said on Twitter.
He said 137 climbers, assisted by 32
guides, were attempting to make their
way to the Laban Rata climber’s hut on
the south side of the mountain. There
they would be met by an 85-strong team
of rescuers as well as supplies of food, he
said.
Manjun added that part of the
mountain’s iconic “Donkey’s Ear” rock
formation had been destroyed in the
quake.
Charlene Dmp, who said she was among
the stranded climbers, posted pictures to
Facebook appearing to show at least 40
people waiting on a steep slope high
above the clouds.
“Please wait for us. We’re doing our
best,” she said just after 6 p.m. local time
(6 a.m. ET). “Just pray for our arrival”
She added: “We cannot go down for now
because there are lots of stones falling.
There is no safe route down and there
are still tremors.”
“Our whole hotel room was shaking,”
said Arina Aizal, a 16-year-old from
Malaysia’s Penang region who was on
holiday with her family near the
epicenter. “We had just woken up so it
was very shocking,” she told NBC News
by telephone. “All the coffee cups were
spilling and everything was falling off
the shelves. We just froze.”
Aizal’s father, 40-year-old government
worker Aizal Mazlan, added: “It was
really scary because we are not at all
used to earthquakes here. They are very
rare. It’s all calm now but officials here
are very worried about aftershocks.”
A travel agent at the Amazing Borneo
Tours, based in the city of Kota Kinabalu
around 35 miles away, told NBC News
that foggy conditions on the mountain
meant rescue helicopters were not able
to reach the stranded climbers.
The worker said that despite patchy
communications, his company’s staff on
the mountain had reported back via
telephone that rescuers were attempting
to reach them on foot.
The Star, an English language news
website in Malaysia, posted what it said
was footage of the quake. The USGS said
it struck at 7:15 a.m. local time (7:15
p.m. ET) at a depth of 6 miles.