Survivors of the Mount Kinabalu earthquake from a decade ago recollect their experiences as they ascend the peak once more.
Going Back to Square One: The Unforgettable Journey of Prajesh and Emyr
Hanging from a tree for a staggering seven hours, Prajesh Dhimant Patel, now 21, was barely awake - the faint movement of his feet, adorned in bright orange kicks, was the only sign of life left.
During a disastrous 2015 earthquake, this 11-year-old boy was nearly lost to the world. A tour guide, on the hunt for survivors amid the destruction, caught sight of those vibrant shoes, leading him to Prajesh.
10 years have passed since a fateful June 5, when 29 students and eight teachers from Singapore's Tanjong Katong Primary School embarked on an expedition to conquer the 13,435 feet Mount Kinabalu on Borneo, Malaysia. The group was caught off guard by a catastrophic 6.0-magnitude quake that triggered a landslide, burying a part of the group.
Prajesh was swept away by the avalanche of rocks and earth, landing in a tree. Seven students and two teachers never made it back. Eighteen lives were claimed in total.
The world moved on, but for Prajesh, the memories have blurred, and his dear friends who never returned have been left only as ghostly figures in his mind. But on the 10th anniversary of the tragedy, he and his former classmate Emyr Uzayr decided to confront their past and face the ghosts.
The Reunion
The duo, ready but anxious, joined forces with Cornelius Sanan, the Malaysian mountain guide who, a decade earlier, had saved Prajesh's life. They embarked on a mission to honor their lost friends and heal.
Though they had stayed in touch over the years with brief messages, they had rarely spoken of their shared traumatic experience until now. Cornelius, with his wry smile, greeted Prajesh, "Where are your magic shoes?" To which Prajesh replied, "I wish I still had them, but they held too many painful memories."
Prajesh wore a religious pendant around his neck instead - a token that Cornelius recognized from that fateful day. They hoped to reach the peak in two days, but rain delays made them spend an extra day on the mountain. This unexpected halt proved to be a blessing, as they heard stories from locals and shared memories with each other.
The Recollection
Unlike Prajesh, Emyr remembers it all - laughter, thrill, tremors... disaster. As they traversed the same trails, the memories came flooding back.
"We were just kids," he recalled, "telling each other,' Hurry up! Move faster!'" But their joy wouldn't last long. The ground began to tremble, and the mountain was covered by a relentless barrage of massive rocks.
"It felt like the end of the world," he said quietly. "My friends' jackets were everywhere, and... the bodies."
Though Emyr was left with cuts and a fractured skull, he survived. For Prajesh, the memories are fragmented, with Cornelius serving as a crucial link to help fill in the missing pieces. He shows Prajesh the very tree where he had been clinging onto for hours - just a subtle movement from being lost forever.
A New Beginning
Though the paths on Mount Kinabalu have been rebuilt, safety measures have been introduced, and the mountain hasn't changed, the memories of 2015 still linger. The climb, never an easy feat, has taken on new significance.
"We lost so much, but in climbing again, we found a renewed sense of purpose," Emyr said. "And we realized it was time to accept the past and move on to the future."
[Sources: 1, 2, 3]
- In the face of the 10th anniversary of the Mount Kinabalu tragedy, the survivors, Prajesh and Emyr, decided to revisit the mountains, this time to honor their lost friends and heal.
- As they climbed Mount Kinabalu again, Prajesh, who had partial memory loss from the disaster, was struck by the stories shared by locals and the recollections returned by Emyr, providing a more vivid picture of that fateful day.
