M’sians caught in Lombok quake return home
FIVE Malaysian hikers who were caught in an earthquake in Lombok in Indonesia are glad to finally arrive home, Harian Metro reported.
Siti Hidayah Zainuddin, 38, who was part of a group of 20 hikers, was about to start the hike up Mount Rinjani on the Indonesian island when a 6.4-magnitude earthquake struck on Monday.
“We were only minutes away from walking to the location where we were to start our ascent.
“The earth suddenly shook. We panicked, especially when a second tremor occurred shortly after the first,” she said when met yesterday at the KLIA 2.
The earthquake killed a Malaysian climber, Siti Nur Iesmawida Ismail, 30.
Siti Hidayah thanked local residents in Lombok along with volunteers, police from both countries, the Malaysian Embassy in Jakarta and AirAsia for helping the group.
> Harian Metro also reported Tourism, Arts and Culture Minister Mohamaddin Ketapi as saying that his ministry will not ban online home rental service Airbnb.
The ministry, he said, is currently receiving registrations from owners of premises offering rental services using Airbnb.
Mohamaddin said the rationale for not banning it in Malaysia is due to the fact that Airbnb is a com- monly used service in the tourism industry.
> A married couple was among four people who pleaded not guilty to robbing and injuring a cashier at a convenience store in Kuala Lumpur, Sinar Harian reported.
Jufri Juzaili Johari, 27, his wife Min Halena Pahrul Razi, 22, and their friends Rausyan Zed Lestari Zainal, 23 and a 17-year-old female were accused of robbing and hurting the employee of the convenience store located in Jalan Segambut at 11.57pm on July 21.
They were charged at the Kuala Lumpur Sessions Court under Section 394 of the Penal Code read with Section 34 of the same Code, which provides for a maximum jail term of 20 years, a fine and whipping upon conviction.
> Actress Hannah Delisha who stars in the upcoming local horror film Langsuir got a major scare when she was nearly bitten by a black snake on set, Kosmo! reported.
The actress said she was on location near a river bank and was dressed in a sarong when she felt something slither up her leg.
“At first I thought it was my sarong but when I looked closer, I got a big shock when I saw that it was a snake,” she said.
She managed to get away from the snake and considers herself lucky that she was not bitten.