'Their courage will not be forgotten': Singapore honours Kinabalu mountain guides 10 years after Sabah quake

The Singapore High Commission honoured the mountain guides of Mount Kinabalu who played a crucial and heroic role in saving lives in the deadly June 5, 2015 Sabah earthquake.

A team led by High Commissioner to Malaysia Vanu Gopala Menon hosted a reception for the mountain guides from the Kinabalu Mountain Guides Association in Kundasang in conjunction with the 10th anniversary of the earthquake that killed 18 people, including primary schoolchildren from Singapore.

Mr Vanu Gopala also presented 30 pairs of shoes to association members as part of a symbolic gesture of appreciation to the guides for their bravery in rescuing and saving lives at the mountain in the aftermath of the earthquake.

"The tragic Sabah earthquake in 2015 affected the lives of many people, including several Singaporeans," he said on July 23. "My team and I came to honour the mountain guides who played a very important role in rescuing the climbers and helping to retrieve the bodies of the deceased.

"In 2016, we hosted a reception to thank the mountain guides and kept in touch with them. Ten years after the earthquake, we continue to express our gratitude. Their courage will not be forgotten."

Mr Vanu Gopala also expressed gratitude to the Malaysian and Sabah governments for the assistance they rendered during the earthquake.

"Singapore and Malaysia are close neighbours. As neighbours, we help one another, especially during difficult situations. In times of tragedy, we have looked beyond our nationalities and treated each other as people first," he added.

A total of 18 people, including seven students from Singapore's Tanjong Katong Primary School and two teachers, were killed in the 7.15am earthquake that also killed two mountain guides and other climbers.

On that day, mountain guides made new paths through the debris and landslide-hit trails to bring about 130 stranded climbers, some of them injured, back to safety.

In the absence of any outside assistance due to erratic weather conditions on the mountain, the guides decided to find a way out for the stranded, as aftershocks and dropping temperatures at the summit area could cause more fatalities among survivors.

Most of the stranded and injured victims were brought down to safety at Timpohon gate by about 2am on June 6, 2015, averting a potentially major disaster if the stranded climbers continued to remain at the summit area. THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK