They took the wrong turn

A Singapore boy and three of his cousins were rescued after having gone missing for 4 days in the Fraser’s Hill tropical jungle.   The four boys lost their way in the Fraser's Hill jungle after taking the famed Bishop's Trail.  They started from the Muar Cottage but they took the wrong turn and then got lost and strayed to Sungai Sepam (7km of dense forest from where they started) where they were rescued.  The massive search operation costed the Malaysian Authorities close to half a million RM.

All these could have been avoided if they have had a handheld GPS with them.  The GPS unit would have kept a record of location and keeps a track of the route they have walked - a process commonly referred to as breadcrumbing.  In the event they were lost, all they can switch GPS to reverse your route.  They can then follow the directional pointer on the GPS unit to quickly and safely walk back to the starting point.  You can get a lowcost GPS unit for less than S$200.  So before you head off to your next hiking adventure get yourself a GPS unit. 

News scoop by Ali Oop .

Updated On: 15.02.10