Malaysian Earthquake Blamed On Naked Mountain Climbers

The god of the mountain was offended, causing the magnitude 5.9 earthquake Friday

(Fox News) A Malaysian government official has blamed last week’s deadly earthquake on a group of ten tourists whom he claimed “showed disrespect to [a] sacred mountain” by posing for photos naked at the summit last week.

Joseph Pairin Kitingan, the deputy chief minister for the Malaysian state of Sabah, told reporters Saturday that a special ritual would be conducted at a later date to “appease the mountain spirit.” Meanwhile, authorities said that five of the ten climbers were believed to still be in Malaysia and would not be permitted to leave on grounds of gross indecency.

The foreigners, who included two Canadians, two Dutch and a German national, broke away from their group and stripped naked before taking photos at the mountain peak on May 30, officials have said.

Apparently, the mountain god refuses to allow non-blurry pictures. Over at the UK Daily Mail there are a few more pics, and

A few weeks ago, the ten foreign holidaymakers stripped naked, posed for a series of photographs and were accused of urinating as the scaled the mountain in the Malaysian state of Sabah. The photos didn’t appear on social media until days before the earthquake.

As silly as this sounds, thee people still in Malaysia are potentially in big trouble. The two Canadians are possibly being held, and the Canadian Foreign Ministry is involved. They, and any others who haven’t left the country, could be charged, though the type of charge has not been named in any article I’ve run across.

This is the latest example of a growing trend that sees tourists get naked at major tourist attractions, including Machu Picchu in Peru and Angkor Wat in Cambodia, for keepsake photos.

Apparently, it’s not enough to just visit these places and soak in the majesty, beauty, and history.

Crossed at Pirate’s Cove. Follow me on Twitter @WilliamTeach.

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