They did not know missing trekkers, but S’poreans joined search in Johor

SINGAPORE — When Mr Stanley Ler, 30, read the news that two Singaporean trekkers went missing in the Gunung Pulai forest reserve on Wednesday (Feb 7) night, he took urgent leave from work, packed his bags and set off for Malaysia in less than eight hours.

“I don’t know the two trekkers personally… but I decided that I could be an extra pair of eyes and ears that could listen out and watch for them in the forest,” he told TODAY, adding that he was put in touch with another volunteer who was also joining the search efforts and who “had extra space” in his car.

They set off at around 5am on Thursday and arrived at the foot of Gunung Pulai at around 6.30am. The area is located in Johor’s Kulai district.

Mr Ler was just one among a dozen Singaporean volunteers who made their way across the Causeway to help search for Ms Clarice Lum Jie and Mr Dominick Tan, both 27, who had been reported missing since Monday. They were found and rescued by the Johor police late morning on Thursday.

Mr Ler said that Singaporean volunteers arrived at Gunung Pulai before 7am on Thursday, and many did not know the two trekkers and did not have experience in rescue operations.

Mr Steven Tan, 63, from climbing group Team 1000 Adventure, had been co-ordinating efforts since Tuesday. He said that there were at least 12 Singaporean volunteers who showed up on Thursday. In total, there were more than 25 volunteers from Singapore and Malaysia who were split into four groups for the search.

“They came by themselves, after seeing earlier news reports that two have still not been found,” Mr Tan said. The retiree was the one who arranged for the carpool that Mr Ler joined.

Another volunteer, Mr Ho Teck Wei, 47, an avid trail runner, decided to join the rescue efforts because he had previously trained on the hills of Gunung Pulai. “It was a rather impromptu decision, but we read the news on Wednesday night and decided that if we wanted to help, we needed to go down on Thursday morning,” he said. Mr Ho was there with seven other friends from his running group.

“We have gone to Gunung Pulai before to do trail running before major races and are familiar with some of the routes, so we thought that we might be able to help,” he added.

The volunteers set off around 8.30am after a briefing was given on which areas to cover and the routes that had been taken the day before.

Those who had covered ground the day before included Mr Vijay Kumar, 36, founder of trekking community SGTrek Expeditions and Adventures.

“Clarice had hiked with some (trekkers) from SGTrek before,” Mr Kumar said of Ms Lum. “It is because of the community that I first came to know about the news of her missing. A lot of trekkers in the community are common friends (with Clarice).”

Mr Kumar was in Johor on Wednesday morning. Being an experienced trekker, he was part of the team that veered into the more difficult routes closer to the reservoir, where the two missing trekkers were later found.

“There were too many obstacles along the way… (there was) steep mountain climbing... river crossing, and we had to climb down a vertical wall face... as we reached the last point (right before the reservoir), it was almost 3pm. We didn’t have enough time so we decided to turn back,” Mr Kumar said.

He had taken a day’s leave from work to join in the rescue efforts, along with three others from SGTrek.

Mr Tan said: “The volunteers helped to narrow the gaps, so as to help the Malaysian Bomba (firefighters, rescuers) in their efforts. We combed areas that were accessible by foot and common grounds for us trekkers, so that they could focus their search in the air. The terrain gets harder as it gets closer to the reservoir areas, and our volunteers decided to push as far as they could go.”

After news broke that the missing trekkers were found near a water body at Ulu Choh Pontian at around 11.30am, Mr Ler and Mr Ho cheered and high-fived the other volunteers in their teams.

Mr Tan said: “I think it’s a fantastic effort by both Singaporeans and the Malaysian team. I am touched to see so many take leave just to help in the efforts. (The Malaysians) have really done a lot. Without the helicopter, we wouldn’t have been able to find the two.”

Mr Kumar also said that there was a considerable number of Malaysian volunteers who offered to lead the groups because they were more familiar with the routes at Gunung Pulai.

He added that the trekkers were found about 2km from the starting point of the trek, but the terrain in between is not easy to navigate because there is a lot of forestation near the reservoir areas.

In a video posted by Channel NewsAsia, Mr Dominick Tan’s father said: “We would like to send our appreciation to the officials, the (Malaysian) police force for mobilising all their resources to help find (the missing trekkers), special thanks to the volunteers because they came down... (even if they did not have) a personal relationship, they just purely came down to help (with) the search. They (might not) be recognised or given credit, but (we) just want to (say we) appreciate them.”

Though most of the volunteers did not manage to catch sight or speak to the missing trekkers, they said that it did not matter, and were just relieved that they had been found.

Mr Ler said: “(We) got down to the base camp at around 1pm, (by then) the couple were on their way to the hospital. It doesn’t matter who had spotted and rescued them. At the end of the day, I think all we wanted to see was their safe return. It doesn’t matter if they thank us or not, I guess it’s just Singaporeans looking out for one another.”