A hike into the jungles of Negeri Sembilan went frighftully awry for four Singaporeans who found themselves separated from their group and got lost for 10 hours in the Malaysian wilderness.
The four Singaporeans — all of whom are in their mid-20s — had joined about 35 other hikers at 8am for a trek up the 824 metres-high Gunung Angsi in Negeri Sembilan last Sunday morning when they lost their way during their descent, The New Paper reports.
During the return hike after reaching the summit of the mountain, the four friends broke away from the main group to descend through the more scenic Ulu Bendul waterfall trail, navigating their way around using white plastic markers tied to the trees.
They soon lost track of the markers after circumventing a large fallen tree and decided to call the park rangers for instructions when it started pouring. They followed the park ranger’s instructions to follow a river, and several hours later at 9pm they arrived at an oil palm plantation.
Exploring further down the plantation, they stumbled upon a hostel of an electronics factory and notified a security guard stationed there. The fire department was soon alerted and they were given a ride to the Ulu Bendul Recreation Park ranger office.
Reportedly, the local Fire and Rescue Department had been alerted about their disappearance earlier, and 29 officers were deployed to search for the missing hikers.
One of their friends drove all the way from Singapore to Negeri Sembilan to pick them up from the park, and they reached back home early yesterday morning around 3.30am.