MELAKA: An evening hike up the Bukit Beruang hill turned into a nightmare of sorts for a father and son when they became lost for five hours, on Saturday.
The man, 40, and his 10-year-old son had trekked up the hill around 6pm but soon lost their way.
With darkness approaching, the man used his mobile phone to ring his family members to inform them of their predicament.
Two of his brothers trekked up the hill to find them but failed. In the end, they alerted the Fire and Rescue Department, which then deployed a search party.
State Fire and Rescue department deputy operations director and Senior Fire Officer II Zulkifli Nordin said they were informed of the incident at 8.18pm and arrived at the scene within 10 minutes.
"With the help of the members of the public especially (a local) Mr Lim (Kee Bok) who is familiar with the trekking route here, we managed to locate the victims at 10.44pm and led them down to the foot of the hill at 11.12pm.
"The victims are in good condition and they appeared calm as they were waiting to be rescued," he added.
Zulkifli said that the department has so far responded to three cases of members of the public going missing in the Bukit Beruang hill this year.
A 22-year-old Multimedia University student who had asthma died when he lost his way after being separated from his parents at the Bukit Beruang hill mid last year.