KOTA KINABALU - A tour guide bringing a group of visitors at the Tabin Wildlife Park in Lahad Datu could not believe his eyes when he saw a mud volcano "eruption" phenomenon in the area on Sunday.
Hamit Suban, 43, said it happened around 10am when he brought eight tourists during their visit to the forest in Tabin.
"Our first programme after breakfast was visiting the mud volcano area and I brought tourists from the United States for a 700-metre walk to the location.
"As soon as we arrived, we headed to the observation tower to look at the birds and other animals at the location. We then suddenly heard a loud boom in the area,” he told Sinar Harian when contacted.
He said this when asked to comment on the incident which he posted on his Facebook on Sunday.
The video showed the mud volcano eruption phenomenon which caused panic among the tourists which forced them to turn back for safety reasons.
He said after witnessing the phenomenon he was shocked and worried for the safety of the tourists at the scene.
"At the time, we panicked for a while but we managed to witness the eruption for 25 minutes from the tower located about 70 metres away from the place of the incident.
"It was like a lava erupting from the volcano in a form of mud and it was understood that it was the biggest eruption that has ever happened which was six metres high,” he said.
Hamit has worked as a tour guide since 2005 at the Borneo Eco Tours Kinabatangan and he said even though the incident has happened before this, it was the first time he witnessed it.
"This time I managed to record where the mud eruption came out from and the smaller eruption from the grounds," he said.
Another tour guide from Tabin Wildlife Resort, Amrafel Marang, 42, who has been working in the area for 23 years said the last time it happened was three years ago.
He said the mud released from the ground was rich with minerals.
"Animals in the area will come to the mud to get their mineral sources from the eruption.
"However, it was not the first time it had happened, it was a coincidence that it was recorded compared to the previous incidents at 2014 and 2019," he said.