IPOH: A 49-year-old female hiker has gone missing during a trekking expedition along the Trans Spencer Chapman trail at Puncak Gunung Batu Putih in Tapah.
Perak Fire and Rescue Department director Sayani Saidon said that the missing hiker, identified as Jaslinda Saludin, had injuries on her leg and was among a group of 14 hikers accompanied by two mountain guides who began the expedition at 2am on Saturday (May 23).
The group was trekking along the route from Pos Gedung to Gunung Bah Gading, Gunung Batu Putih and Kuala Woh.
She said Jaslinda's location remains unknown due to the loss of communication since 5.45pm on Sunday (May 24).
She added that another hiker, identified as Mohd Hanafi Neikmad, 41, suffered breathing difficulties, vomited blood and could not continue the hike at about 10pm on May 23.
"Hanafi stopped to rest at Kem Batu Core together with mountain guide Hafis and Jaslinda.
“The remaining 12 hikers, together with another guide, Aizat, continued their journey to the summit of Gunung Batu Putih and safely exited the trail at Tapah at about 1pm on Sunday," she said in a statement on Monday (May 25).
She said that the distance from Kem Batu Core to the summit of Gunung Batu Putih is about 1.5km, with the hike estimated to take around two hours.
Sayani said a distress call regarding the incident was received at 11.32am on Sunday.
“At about 4pm, Hafis informed the department that he and Hanafi were still at Kem Batu Core.
"However, he said he did not know the whereabouts of Jaslinda and believed she had continued towards the summit of Gunung Batu Putih," she said.
"About seven of them, including mountain guides and Perak Forestry Department personnel, began trekking towards the victims’ location at about 4am in May 24, with the journey estimated to take about 10 hours.
"A helicopter was deployed to Kem PGA Bidor to transport 12 STORM personnel to the summit of Gunung Batu Putih," she added.
Sayani said rescue personnel would track from the summit to the victims’ location, which is estimated to take about one and a half hours on foot.
“The rescuers, together with the mountain guides, will bring Hanafi to the summit before he is extracted by helicopter using the winching method and flown to Kem PGA Bidor,” she said.
She added that the focus of the rescue operation with the helicopter this morning is to evacuate Hanafi first, while the search-and-rescue efforts to locate the female hiker would continue.
