June 5th, 2015. It's the historical day for all Malaysian, especially Sabahan, where tragic incident that never before happened, occurred in the very heart of the majestic Mount Kinabalu. This is the day that will be remembered for a long time, as our pride of Aki's stature has forever deformed due to the tremor that shook her.
It was early in the morning, at 7.17am when the tremor happened. I was in bed, still asleep at that time. But the bed shook so strong that made me wide awake. It happened for at least 5 seconds and I was still in a trance for a minute, before went downstairs searching for my family.
They too, felt the tremor. All of us were looking out of the window to see if there's any strange phenomenon going on. There's not many people around. Only a few kids running here and there. And of course we checked on our hand phones to see any updated information about the recent tremor. As suspected, the tremor did occur some parts of Sabah ; mostly in Ranau, Kota Belud, Tambunan, Kota Kinabalu, Tuaran, etc.
When I noticed that it occurred mostly in Ranau, I thought of my sister who was on a trip of climbing the mountain on that day. Out of a sudden, she called my mum from the top of the mountain. She said that the tremor was still happening now and then, and the rocks were falling down. She even witnessed how the Donkey's Ears (part of the mountain) broke and fell down in boulders. There were 100 over climbers and mountain guides on the mountain during that time. The were all terrified of the tremor and just waiting for rescue.
Apart from feeling traumatic by a small tremor that had shocked me that morning, I thought of how terrible they must have felt up there. My families, especially my mum, were not able to feed ourselves properly because of thinking too much of my sister's condition. She called up my mum from time to time to update us all about their situation. When she told us that rescue was on the way, I was hoping for the best. But that didn't settle us to be calm. Not yet. The rescue team have to bring them down safely to the ground for us to be relieved.
The news about the tremor were all over the media. Some media even asked me for my sister's contact number for them to put up on the news. Apparently, my sister's cellphone was the only one with the strong signal among them. That's why she managed to update all that's happening there on her facebook. Her pictures were all over the media.
Some of my colleague friends even ask for my sister's help to seek for a friend's son, to see if he's okay. I did send the message to her but I guess she overlooked it as many other people were using her cellphone to contact their families; plus the frequent tremor.
It must be hard for them. To witness the falling boulders during the tremor, while rooted to a safe spot, hoping to survive. Their last meal was on 2.am earlier that day, before climbing up the mountain at 3 a.m. I'd never climbed Mount Kinabalu before, but because of this tremor, I did a little research from my families and friends. That's why I knew that they had their breakfast at 2.00 am. I was hoping that all the climbers, especially my sister made it out safely to the ground with all their energy they might have during that time.
When she said that the helicopter that supposed to come and get them, didn't turn up, we were restless and angry at the same time. My cousin's husband called me up and said that his friend, which is one of the pilot, told him that the helicopter could not manage to retrieve them due to the weather and it's almost sunset. They were to stay there, and rescue will only proceed tomorrow morning.
And I was like, ok. So, they (the rescue team) must have known how cold it is up there, for them to make a decision like that. But wait, how could they just leave them up there! Are they just going to wait at the Timpohon Gate and guard the mountain? And when the mountain shook simultaneously, what would they do? Waiting for their Superior to give orders? Have to follow procedures?
I'm not asking for the SAR team to willingly risk their life to save the climbers but from the look of it, they didn't do MORE than they should. People were dying up there, for Christ sake.
Luckily for the climbers, the Mountain Guides (Malim Gunung) were the ones who made the decision to climb down. They have made many precautions while ascending the summit by making new trails and checking for loose rocks and boulders for the climbers to step on it. The MG constantly egged the climbers on despite of the tiredness, as the mountain keep shaking all the time. Along the way down, they witnessed several dead bodies that could not make it alive, earlier that morning when the first tremor struck.
All of the stranded climbers, including my sister, had tried their best to weather the storm and finally reached the summit at Timpohon Gate around midnight. Thank God for their safe arrival.
This majestic view is taken by the roadside of Kota Belud, via the route to Kudat.
