GEORGE TOWN: Nine hikers who were lost since yesterday evening at Bukit Bendera have been rescued.
The rescuers received a stress call at about 7.27pm yesterday from one of the victims who said that they were lost while they were hiking there.
No details were available at that time but the victim managed to find signal in his phone and immediately alerted the authorities about their fate.
A team from the Fire and Rescue Department then rushed to the scene to locate the nine victims - seven men and two women.
Three hours after the stress call was made, the victim who was in constant contact with the authorities said that he could hear sirens nearby.
However he could not find the way down with the other victims.
The victims also started fire in order to assist the rescuers with the efforts of locating them in the middle of the jungle at night time.
At about 1.09am early morning today, the victims were found safe and sound and were brought down to safety in a 4WD.
The rescue operation ended almost 10 hours after the stress call was made.