PETALING JAYA: A usual three-hour hike turned into a 12-hour ordeal for a group of hikers when they did not check the weather forecast before starting their trek.
Six seasoned hikers who went to Bukit Kutu, Selangor, on Monday were stuck for three hours due to heavy rain and strong currents.
One of them, who only wanted to be known as Sandra, 25, said she had a traumatising experience with soreness, bruises and an unexplained animal bite on her torso.
“There were four river streams on our trail, and the rain poured heavily on our way down at about 3pm, but as we were already halfway down, we continued our journey until the third stream where we got stuck,” the human resource executive said.
Sandra explained that they had to wait for over three hours as water rose up to chest height.
“When the water subsided a bit at 8.30pm, the current was still strong and up to my chest, so we held hands and formed a line to make sure that we could get across.
“Thankfully, we met another two groups of hikers, making it 11 of us in total, so we were able to get across around 8.45pm,” she said.
Sandra said a friend who didn’t join the expedition grew worried and phoned the police for assistance at around 7pm.
“Our friend grew worried and her sister-in-law called the police, but to our surprise, the police said that they do not allow hikes at Bukit Kutu and that no permits were issued,” she said.
Sandra claimed the police told her sister-in-law (named Lim) that summonses would be issued to the hikers if they send a rescue team because they did not receive the permit.
However, Sandra claimed that the group submitted the permit to the Hulu Selangor district police station a day prior.
Sandra added that Lim then called the fire department for assistance, but the team was unavailable due to flash floods, and was told that it would take them close to an hour before they could save them.
The group managed to make it safely to the foot of the hill at 9.30pm.
Checks by The Star with the hotline from the Forestry Department of Peninsular Malaysia revealed that the permit allows hikers to hike in permanent forest reserves, and enables them to call for help without getting summoned by the police if they are injured or lost.
Efforts have been made to reach out to the Hulu Selangor district police station for comments, but it has yet to respond.