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Woman arrested on suspicion of stripping on Malaysia quake mountain?.
Malaysian police said Wednesday that they have detained four Westerners, including two Canadians, suspected of posing naked at the country’s highest peak last month, just days before an earthquake killed 18 climbers on the mountain.
Pictures of 10 naked tourists had spread on social media and infuriated locals following the 5.9-magnitude quake that struck near Mount Kinabalu on Friday, killing 18 climbers.
Police obtained a court order to detain four of them for four days while they are investigated for indecent behaviour, said Jalaluddin Abdul Rahman, the police commissioner for the Malaysian State of Sabah where the mountain is located.
Six other tourists are still wanted by police.
“We’ll catch them,” said the commissioner, adding that those detained might be charged for causing public nuisance.
Two Canadian siblings and a Dutch man surrendered themselves at a police station in Sabah on Tuesday evening, he said. A British woman was detained at a Sabah airport earlier on Tuesday while trying to fly to Kuala Lumpur.
In London, a Foreign Office spokeswoman said: “We can confirm a British national has been arrested and we’re providing consular assistance.”
A Sabah official has blamed the tragedy on the foreigners for showing “disrespect to the sacred mountain.”
The group were believed to have stripped naked at the site on 30 May.
A Canadian said by news reports to be among them further enraged locals by posting a video on YouTube and a post on Facebook in which he ridiculed “deranged p*****” who “linked earthquakes and mountaintop nudity”.
He received angry comments and even death threats on social media.
Mount Kinabalu, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and popular climbing destination, is considered sacred by Malaysia’s Kadazan Dusun tribal group, who believe it is a resting place for spirits.
The quake sent landslides crashing down from the mountain’s summit just as more than 150 hikers were at the peak enjoying sunrise views.
The victims were nine Singaporeans, six Malaysians and a Filipino, a Chinese and a Japanese national.
In the wake of the disaster, Malaysian social media users and some Sabah officials have focused on the nudists, suggesting that their actions angered the spirits and led to the earthquake.
Sabah provincial tourism minister Masidi Manjun said the idea that the tourists’ actions had caused the earthquake was “misconstrued”.
But, he added, “their actions were against the people of the largest tribe in Sabah.
“The mountain is a revered and sacred site.”
A traditional inter-faith cleansing ritual is expected to take place at the mountain site soon involving Muslims, Christians and tribal leaders, he said.
Agencies/Canadajournal
