JOHOR BARU, Sept 18 — A Singaporean man was reported missing after he was believed to have lost his way while hiking the Panti Timur Forest Reserve in Kota Tinggi, yesterday.

Kota Tinggi district police chief Supt Hussin Zamora said police received information about the incident from a local man at 3.26pm.

He said the local man, who is also a friend of the victim, alerted the police that he had lost contact with Jason Ren Jie, who is in his 30s, while hiking with him in the forest.

"They started climbing at around 11.30am. The complainant said he was separated from the victim at about 1pm when both of them got separated at a location while climbing.

"The complainant walked first while the victim waited behind. However, after 30 minutes of waiting, the victim failed to appear. The complainant tried to locate his friend but failed to do so,” he said in a statement today.

Following that, he said a team from the Batu Ampat police station had been dispatched to the scene to locate the missing hiker.

This search and rescue operation was also assisted by the Malaysian Fire and Rescue Department from the Kota Tinggi Fire and Rescue station as well as the Forestry Department (Kota Tinggi), he added.

"As of 11.30 last night, the victim has not yet been found and the search and rescue operation was suspended temporarily as it was too dark and made the search difficult. The operation resumes today,” he said.

Hussin also advised the public who intend to do hiking activities, especially in the forest reserve area, to obtain a permit from the Kota Tinggi district forestry office first and inform the nearest police station to avoid such incidents from recurring. — Bernama