LAHAD DATU: Tragedy struck a group of 17 people during a river trekking activity in Lembah Maksina, Makuau, here, when they were unexpectedly caught in a flood and trapped in a water surge incident on Sunday night.
District Fire and Rescue Station Chief Sumsoa Rashid said that they received a distress call at 8.28pm.
Fire and Rescue teams, along with other agencies like the police, Forestry Department, and Civil Defense Force, promptly responded to the scene to rescue the victims.
By midnight, nine victims — six men and three women — had been successfully rescued.
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Sadly, six individuals remained missing and were feared to have drowned in the incident.
Search and Rescue (SAR) operations were initiated on Sunday night but had to be paused at 1.40am due to adverse weather conditions and darkness.
The SAR efforts were resumed at 6am on Monday.
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