Almost 60 tourists, including some from the UK, are among almost 100 people being evacuated from a resort in a Malaysian national park lashed by its heaviest rainfall in more than four decades.
Evacuation started today with boats sent to bring the victims to the nearby SK Kuala Tahan. Helicopters were deployed to airlift victims to hospital, reported The New Straits Times.
About 84 guests, including travellers from Britain, Canada, Australia and Romania, and 10 staff members at the Mutiara Taman Negara Resort, in the east coast state of Pahang, were stranded after a river overflowed its banks, a resort official told Reuters.
The park, a popular ecotourism destination spanning 434,300 hectares of tropical rainforest, has recorded its highest rainfall since 1971, following major floods on the country’s east coast, state news agency Bernama said.
Residents were warned to avoid coastal areas and river mouths as tides were expected to reach their peak over the next two nights, Malaysian newspaper The New Straits Times said.
“They should have left [on Tuesday] but the dangerous river has cut off the place from the outside world and we are running low on food,” a resort employee, who declined to be named, said.
“Nonetheless, we ensure the safety and well-being of tourists and if necessary, we will use a helicopter to drop food for us tomorrow.”