KOTA KINABALU, June 12 — Tens of foreign media journalists have descended into the city to cover news of the four arrested tourists who may be charged in court today over their alleged striptease on Mount Kinabalu.

Malay Mail Online understands that among others, pressmen from UK’s The Guardian, The Daily Mail, Mail on Sunday, The Sun as well as BBC, CBS and Sky News are among those who have arrived in Kota Kinabalu.

Canadians siblings Lindsey, 23 and Danielle Peterson, 22, Dutch national Dylan Snel, 23, and Briton Eleanor Hawkins, 24 are expected to be charged with public indecency in court today.

They are currently under a four-day remand that ends tomorrow.

The tourists are allegedly part of a group of 10 who stripped on Mount Kinabalu for photos despite being warned by their local guide not to.

The foreigners’ decision to bare-all on the mountain angered Sabah natives who accused them of showing disrespect to local customs and cultures.

But what exacerbated the incident was when Sabah Deputy Chief Minister and Huguon Siou (paramount leader of the Kadazandusun) Tan Sri Joseph Pairin Kitingan blamed the tourists’ striptease for a deadly earthquake last week.

The incident has earned sensational headlines in the UK media, with The Sun publishing  front-page headline yesterday that said, “Your boobs have angered mountain gods”, while the Daily Star titled theirs “Naked Brit girl caused killer quake”.

The Daily Mirror used the headline “Nude student faces jail for ‘causing deadly quake’” along with the line “Locals in Borneo say gods on sacred mountain were angered by photo prank”.

Commenters on the news portals have also criticised the state and its people for their “superstitious and archaic” beliefs.

Malaysians have been divided in anger, some calling for their disrespectful antics to punished, while others complain that sensationalised news of the nudists have eclipsed disaster relief efforts of the earthquake.