A Malaysian tribal chief has called on Western tourists who were arrested for stripping naked on top of a mountain to pay a fine of ten buffalo or face jail, it has been reported. Former British public schoolgirl Eleanor Hawkins is among the group accused of 'upsetting the gods' by posing nude on the country's highest peak days before an earthquake killed 18 climbers on the mountain.
British tourist Eleanor, 24, from Derby, was detained at a Sabah airport yesterday while trying to fly to Kuala Lumpur. On Wednesday night it was reported that one local tribal chief had called on the tourists to pay a ‘sogit’ or fine of ten buffalo or face jail. Priest Tindarama Aman Sirom Simbuna said: ‘The tourists who angered the guardian of the mountain should pay for their mistakes by giving sogit.
'This should be in the form of ten male or female buffalo'. Indigenous people say Mount Kinabalu - where the group posed for their photo - is a resting place for the spirits of the departed. Miss Hawkins, an aerospace engineering student, is said to be 'very upset' as she sits in a police cell in Borneo facing obscenity charges, which can carry a three-month prison sentence.
Her father, Tim Hawkins, who runs an engineering business in Derby, said his daughter sounded frightened when he spoke to her this morning. He said: 'She is obviously upset. She's pretty scared. But it was good to speak to her.'
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