Treacherous Bukit Tabur trail claims another victim as teacher plunges to his death
KUALA LUMPUR: The infamous Bukit Tabur in Ulu Kelang here claimed its latest victim when a science teacher from a private school fell several metres to his death.
Ng Pee Tat, in his 30s, died from severe injuries after he fell several meters down a steep slope at 8pm Tuesday.
This was the first time Ng and his colleague, 29-year-old David Spencer, had hiked up Bukit Tabur.
Spencer, a music teacher at the school in Setia Alam, said they started their hike at about 6pm and made it past Station 9 of the route when they realised that they had wandered off the trail in the darkness.
"As we were climbing down the mountain, we saw a rope and used it to climb down. It was very slippery, and there was nothing else to hold on to.
"We tried to climb back up when we realised that we could not go further down the slope," said Spencer.
According to him, Ng grabbed a thin tree to hold himself up but it broke just as Spencer reached out to him, sending Ng plunging to his death.
"One of the rescuers told me that he fell 60 feet (18 meters)," Spencer told reporters when met at the scene.
Unable to locate his friend, Spencer clawed his way up the slope and hiked his way down to a residential area at the foot of the hill where he sought help from a resident.
The resident alerted the pump house nearby and staff there notified the police.
The Fire and Rescue Department received an emergency call shortly after 8.30pm. The Civil Defence Department was also alerted.
Ng's mud-covered body, clad in a dark t-shirt and shorts, was finally extricated by rescue personnel at about at 1.30am.
Previous fatalities at Bukit Tabur were reported in 2000, 2004 and in March 2009, involving two medical specialists who were both experienced trekkers.
The StarCl
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