MS Features: Earthquake survivor returns to climb Mount Kinabalu 10 years later
In June 2015, 11-year-old Singaporean student Emyr Uzayr laid frozen on the exposed ground of Mount Kinabalu as thousands of rocks tumbled down.
Though bleeding profusely from a fractured skull, he would find himself alive after the rockfall.
Yet around him, there were too many of his friends who were not.
10 years later, Emyr once more set foot on Malaysia’s tallest mountain with a burning determination to complete his unfinished ascent.
Image courtesy of Emyr Uzayr
A man on a mission
MS News met the now 22-year-old Emyr in his family’s antique shop in Tai Seng.
The earthquake survivor had been practically drowning in media attention ever since his return to Mount Kinabalu around three weeks ago.
Emyr had been one of the young students from Tanjong Katong Primary School (TKPS) selected for the Omega Challenge, an annual leadership programme where the children were tasked to scale the 4,095-metre-tall mountain.
On 5 June 2015, they split into several groups and tackled the via ferrata trail — a protected climbing route with installed steel fixtures such as cables or railings for safer climbing.
The activity emphasised effective teamwork.
Source: emyr8 on Instagram
“If one person moves, everyone has to move. If one person stops, everyone has to stop,” Emyr explained.
The students laughed and teased each other to move faster, all of them having fun.
“Suddenly, we heard a loud roar. I thought it was thunder,” said the 22-year-old university student.
However, when Emyr looked up from his spot on the climbing route, he did not see any dark clouds or signs of rain.
Then, he spotted a boulder the size of a van tumbling down the mountainside and onto the groups still waiting at the start of the via ferrata.
After a second, all hell broke loose.
“The entire mountain shook like crazy,” said Emyr, who recalled feeling like an ant clinging helplessly to the trembling mountainside.
We saw rocks — thousands of them — big, sharp, and falling from on top towards us.
Completely exposed with no cover, Emyr could only lie down and pray to God. Rocks pummeled him, with only his helmet and backpack providing any protection.
Source: emyr8 on Instagram
The rockfall lasted a painful 30 seconds.
When a mountain guide rappelled sideways and checked on him, the young boy was frozen in place, trying to rationalise what had just happened as a nightmare.
Injured student hiked 8km down with fractured skull
Still in shock, but with the help of the guide, Emyr managed to return to the start of the via ferrata trail.
“Along the way… I saw colours. Colours of my friends’ jackets… They were not moving anymore,” he said, pausing frequently as he tried to describe the horrific sight.
“I saw everything… things an 11-year-old should not have seen.”
When he returned to their lodging at Pendant Hut, one of the guides there was shocked to find his helmet broken in half.
Emyr had suffered a skull fracture at the back of his head and was bleeding profusely.
They waited for several hours for a rescue helicopter, but none came due to the foggy weather.
With no resources, the guides decided that the entire group would hike eight kilometres down destroyed terrain to get help.
The earthquake had wiped out most of the stairs and paths, with any misstep meaning falling down the mountain to their deaths.
Source: emyr8 on Instagram
Gritting through his bandaged head wound, a sprained shoulder, an injured back, and cuts all over his body, Emyr joined his group on the long hike down.
One of his friends, Wafeeq, even pushed through the agony of a fractured collarbone.
After a long hike, the group made it down to safety at Timpohon Gate.
‘Why did I survive?’
Emyr received surgery that night at Gleneagles Hospital in Sabah. The next morning, he awoke to the sight of his parents at his hospital bedside, comforting him.
When news of the earthquake first reached his family, they were devastated and did not know if he was alive.
Desperate for news, his father switched to TV1 Malaysia and saw a boy in an ambulance with a bandaged head.
Source: emyr8 on Instagram
Though Emyr was facing away, his father immediately recognised him, as he had the same bright orange T-shirt his father had advised him to wear when outdoors to be easier to spot.
After returning to Singapore, survivor’s guilt plagued Emyr for years.
The earthquake claimed 18 lives in total: 4 mountain guides and 14 climbers.
Among those 14, seven students and two teachers from TKPS had died, plus a Singapore guide accompanying them.
Image courtesy of Emyr Uzayr
“I thought of ‘why did I survive?’,” said Emyr.
Why didn’t my friends — who had better potential than me, who were smarter than me in so many ways — why didn’t they survive?
Emyr eventually changed his mindset to stop lamenting over the what-ifs.
Instead, he saw a different perspective, that he had been handed a second chance.
With it, he could do good, spread kindness, and live with no regrets.
Initially, Emyr found it hard to talk about the horrific tragedy, but he now chooses to focus on the happy memories with his deceased friends.
Source: emyr8 on Instagram
One memory he always cherishes is of the night before the earthquake, when one of his deceased friends, Ameer Ryyan, led everyone in prayer.
Being kids, everyone was laughing and joking, with Emyr calling it a “fun and lively” atmosphere.
“They were the kindest and purest of souls; they were the best friends I ever had,” said Emyr.
“Throughout my life, they have always been an inspiration for me. The thought of them always propels me forward.”
Earthquake survivor returns to Mount Kinabalu to finish the climb
For the survivor, a second ascent up Mount Kinabalu had been on his mind ever since the earthquake.
“We just had to finish what we didn’t manage to finish then,” he said, adding that it was to find closure and honour his deceased friends.
Emyr and fellow survivor, Prajesh Dhimant Patel, planned the trip over a few months.
Image courtesy of Emyr Uzayr
They reached out to other survivors, but due to differing commitments, were unable to align their schedules. The others, nonetheless, showed the duo their full support.
Emyr’s family felt hesitant when he told them of his plans, and even Emyr had to push through the flood of anxiety that arrived the night before their flight.
“‘What if something like that happens again?’, ‘Why are you doing this to yourself?’ — all these negative thoughts came flooding in,” he said.
Even so, Emyr still showed up at the airport with the full support and blessings from his family.
Memories flood back for climbers
Emyr and Prajesh arrived in Sabah on 19 May and began their ascent the next day.
They brought their old TKPS shirts with them, plus a Singapore flag, and met up with their two guides — Cornelius and Billy Sapinggi, who both experienced the 2015 earthquake firsthand.
The former was the man who rescued Prajesh 10 years ago.
Image courtesy of Emyr Uzayr
Clad in the very same orange shirt he wore during the disaster, Emyr visited the earthquake memorial, listing the 18 dead.
Emyr and Prajesh told their deceased friends that they would be finishing this “once and for all”.
Image courtesy of Emyr Uzayr
They took the slogan on the back of the TKPS shirts, “I can and I will. Watch me!”, as motivation for this attempt.
During the ascent, memories came flooding back, both good and bad. Emyr and Prajesh chose to focus on the happy ones.
When asked about them, Emyr simply said that there were too many happy memories to pinpoint one.
Image courtesy of Emyr Uzayr
Earthquake survivors devastated by unexpected summit closure
Emyr and Prajesh’s plan came crashing down when they encountered an unexpected obstacle on 21 May.
The duo were supposed to reach the top on that day and return home, but bad weather resulted in the summit being closed.
They then decided to extend their booked trip by one day, exploring the mountain on the 21st instead.
With help from their guide, Cornelius, Emyr and Prajesh put together the missing pieces of the puzzle from that fateful day in 2015.
Source: emyr8 on Instagram
Emyr also recalled encountering others on the mountain who had also been affected by the earthquake.
In a restaurant on the mountain, an employee told them that the chef had lost his brother, Valerian Joannes, in the tragedy. They went to see him, and Emyr explained his mission.
Source: emyr8 on Instagram
“He looked at me and he just teared up,” recalled Emyr. The chef then shook his hand and urged him to complete it.
In a later encounter when descending the mountain, Emyr and Prajesh met up with the father of a guide named Robbie Sapinggi, who had died in the earthquake.
The man, now in his 60s, was still working as a guide on the mountain where he lost his son.
The showcase of strength and passion greatly affected Emyr, who hugged him.
“He looked at us as if we were his son,” the 22-year-old recalled.
Source: emyr8 on Instagram
The survivor had initially viewed the Mount Kinabalu earthquake through the lens of a Singaporean tragedy.
Meeting the people connected to it, he realised how hard the local Malaysians had been hit by it too.
“I had this new profound sense of respect towards the guides, who never lost hope, who never lost their strength or passion,” said Emyr to MS News.
“[I have] nothing but admiration for them.”
Earthquake survivor experiences sunrise on Kinabalu summit
Emyr and Prajesh’s Mount Kinabalu ascent ultimately hinged on 22 May when, fortunately, the stars aligned.
They ended up getting the very last two slots available for the summit.
“It was meant to be,” Emyr said with the widest grin on his face.
He told MS News that the weather was clear near the top, as if their late friends had made it so for them.
Source: emyr8 on Instagram
“We knew that they were supporting us, that they were cheering on us,” he said.
At 5.45am that day, the two of them completed their ascent atop Mount Kinabalu. Emyr shared:
Every step, we thought of them, and when we reached the summit, I knew that they were proud of us.
Image courtesy of Emyr Uzayr
Emyr watched the spectacular sunrise and felt a release of 10 years’ worth of suppressed emotions.
There was an indescribably complex mix of feelings — sadness, catharsis, accomplishment, and ultimately, a sense of closure.
Source: emyr8 on Instagram
Earthquake survivor receives closure after climbing Mount Kinabalu
Emyr told MS News that he has felt lighter ever since completing the ascent. He said:
The ‘bag’ with all its contents — the weight of 10 years of suppressed emotions I held onto — it’s all gone. It’s an acceptance of the past.
He instead got hit with a tide of media attention from news sites, both local and international, and even Senior Minister Lee Hsien Loong on Facebook.
“Honestly, it’s a bit overwhelming,” Emyr admitted, but felt that if his story of hope and resilience could help one person, it was worth retelling.
When asked what he would tell people who’ve faced similar trauma, he said:
It won’t be easy. It will never be easy. It will take time. Based on my own experience, you have to confront it. It’s how you can move on.
Emyr also had one more message dedicated to his deceased friends.
“It’s been 10 years. The memory of our good experiences 10 years ago has never faded away. The jokes, the laughter, the mature conversations we had, I can still recall it all,” he said.
“You were all the best, you were all so pure, and you will always be an inspiration for me. I hope through this summit climb, we managed to make you guys proud.”
Have news you must share? Get in touch with us via email at hello@mustsharenews.com.
Featured image courtesy of Emyr Uzayr.
