PETALING JAYA, July 30 — A group of about 20 Malaysians who were stranded in disaster-struck Lombok, Indonesia has finally returned home with the help of low-cost airline, AirAsia Bhd.

The group was welcomed by AirAsia chief executive Tan Sri Tony Fernandes and his team.

One of the group members, Nur Sakinah Hasman in a public Facebook post this afternoon stated that the evacuation started yesterday at around 4pm and the team reached Mataram city, about three hours away from the centre of earthquake at 9pm.

"Alhamdulillah, we are all safe and sound and can’t wait to get back home to our families. Our evacuation was handled by Ohana Adventure Sports, who ensured we were well taken care of.

"They were quick to get us the transportation to evacuate as soon as they determined the safest route to leave the area,” she wrote.

Apart from the AirAsia team, Nur Sakinah also thanked the Royal Malaysian Police attache at the Malaysian embassy, the Petronas Communication and Control Centre, relevant ministries and agencies, the villagers of Dusun Bayan in Senaru, and the Indonesian coordination team.

In a separate post, Facebook user Adda Uwais said Fernandes had personally contacted Nur Sakinah to offer help after he was made aware of the situation on social media.

She had yesterday posted saying the flight back was as expensive as RM1,000 per head due to the disaster, and there were about 20 Malaysians stranded in five different hotels.

One Malaysian was killed while six others injured after a powerful 6.4 magnitude earthquake jolted the Indonesian island.

Indonesian authorities said at least 10 people are dead and another 40 injured after the quake struck just before 5.47am local time.