Malaysia cracks down on social media hiking trend after jump in numbers needing rescue

Malaysia's government is cracking down on a social media-fueled hiking trend after an uptick in rescue operations. The Guardian reports that officials are targeting so-called 'compressed hikes' — demanding mountain routes tackled in short timeframes — which have sent increasing numbers of adventurers into remote areas where they become lost or stranded. In the first five months of twenty twenty-six, Malaysia saw fifty-two cases of lost hikers, a jump of nearly thirty percent compared to the same period the year before.

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