Malaysian Tribes Blame Earthquake on Nude Tourist Photo

Malaysian tribal leaders are blaming a deadly earthquake on Western tourists who took naked photos of themselves on the sacred Mount Kinabalu.

The state’s tourism, culture and environment minister Masidi Manjun said locals want 10 tourists who allegedly snapped naked pictures on the mountain arrested, NBC reports. One week after the photos were posted to social media, a 6.0-magnitude earthquake took the lives of 16 people and trapped 100 more on the mountain.

The pictures were interpreted as a sign of disrespect by a group of natives who operate under their own laws separate from the Western-style legal system originally implemented by British colonists in Malaysia.

“The belief among the natives is that the souls of the departed will rest on the mountain before the day of judgment,” Manjun said. “They practice rituals to honor the mountain.”

[NBC]