KUALA LUMPUR // A 6.0-magnitude earthquake struck near Malaysia’s Mount Kinabalu on Borneo Friday, injuring climbers on the popular peak and leaving more than 200 stranded by rockfalls, officials and local reports said.
State officials said at least four climbers had suffered injuries including broken bones and head wounds as the earthquake loosened stones and boulders on the 4,095-metre mountain's wide granite crown, the New Straits Times reported.
Authorities have ordered about 200 climbers and at least 40 guides to stay put at the summit for now due to lingering danger from falling stones and because rockfalls had rendered at least one key descent route impassable.
Fire and rescue officials said the climbers included both foreigners and Malaysians, according to local news reports.
The force of the tremor was so strong that it snapped off one of the two “Donkey’s Ear” rock outcroppings that form a distinctive part of the peak’s craggy profile, Masidi Manjun, the tourism minister for Sabah state, said on his Twitter feed.
“Bad news confirmed! Part of the iconic ‘Donkey’s Ear’ @Mount Kinabalu is gone due to strong tremor this morning,” his Tweet read.
The picturesque mountain, a major tourist draw, has been closed for climbing until further notice.
The US Geological Survey said the earthquake struck at around 7.15am (3.15am UAE) at a depth of 10km, with its epicentre located about 54km east of Kota Kinabalu, capital of Sabah.
No tsunami warning was issued and there were no initial reports of major damage.
Colin Forsythe, a resident of Kota Kinabalu, said the earthquake lasted around 15 seconds and felt “as if a truck had crashed into a brick wall”.
Residents throughout the region reportedly fled in panic from homes and buildings, including Kota Kinabalu’s International Airport.
Major earthquakes are rare in Malaysia, which lies just outside the Pacific Ring of Fire, the belt of seismic activity running around the basin.
* Agence France-Presse