An elderly British climber has tragically died after successfully climbing to the top of Malaysia’s Mount Kinabalu.
The 70-year-old man, who has not yet been identified, is reported to have collapsed while descending from the 13,500ft summit before passing away on Tuesday morning.
He was discovered unresponsive at KM8.2, beyond the Sayat-Sayat Checkpoint, just a few metres from the summit, and emergency services were called at 7:17am local time.
While emergency services called to the top of the mountain gave him first aid, he was unresponsive.
According to Ranau Fire and Rescue Station chief Asst Fire Supt Ridwan Mohd Taib, it took nearly three hours to get to where the man collapsed.
‘The team arrived at the location at 10.15am, and administered first aid to the victim, before carrying him to Panalaban Hut,’ Ridwan said.
The climber was then brought down to the Timpohon Gate, where at 5:08pm he was pronounced dead.
‘The body was later handed over to the police for further action,’ Ridwan added.
has contacted the UK’s Foreign Office for comment.
It comes just two months after a 20-year-old British climber died after falling on a Spanish mouttain.
The 20-year-old man, who has not been named, fell and injured himself while exploring an area known as Puente del Mono – which translates into English as Monkey Bridge – close to the village of El Chorro.
He was knocked unconscious and had gone into cardiac arrest by the time the first emergency responders arrived by helicopter to the mountains near Malaga.
Police attempted to rescue the man by winching him from the rocky surface, but he was later pronounced dead.
The alarm was raised at around 11am, and the climber is understood to have been crossing a protected climbing route called a via ferrata where a metal rail is bolted into the mountain that users can clip into and use as a safety line.
The area where the tragedy occurred is on the famous Caminito del Rey path.
A spokesman for the Guardia Civil in Malaga, making its first comment on the tragedy overnight, said: ‘Members of the specialist Civil Guard Greim mountain rescue team based in Alora near Malaga, supported by a Civil Guard helicopter based in Granada, have rescued the body of a young British man.
‘He had suffered a fall while he was crossing a via ferrata in the area known as Monkey Bridge near to El Chorro.
‘When officers reached the man he had gone into cardiac arrest.
‘Despite practicing CPR on him and evacuating him rapidly from the scene by helicopter to a nearby heliport where medical services were waiting, they were only able to confirm his death.’