State Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Datuk Seri Masidi Manjun tweeted today that rescue teams have recovered 11 bodies from Mount Kinabalu following an earthquake which shook Sabah yesterday.
The authorities were arranging helicopters to transport the bodies, said Masidi on Twitter.
"As at noon time, 11 bodies have been recovered (2 identified) & 8 people are still missing. Police forensic team have arrived to assist," he tweeted.
A local guide and a 12-year-old girl from Singapore were the first confirmed deaths on Mount Kinabalu.
Ranau police chief DSP Mohd Farhan Lee Abdullah said the girl had been identified as a pupil of the Tanjong Katong Primary School in Singapore, while the mountain guide was Robbi Sapinggi, 30, from Kota Belud.
Police earlier said 17 people remained unaccounted for: 14 are climbers and three are guides. Those missing are from Malaysia, Singapore, Japan, China and the Philippines.
When the 7.15am earthquake hit yesterday, 238 people were on the mountain, with a group of more than a 100 people near the summit who were stranded because of a rockfall that damaged the trekking path down the mountain.
The 5.9-magnitude quake struck 14km northwest of Ranau, and tremors were felt in Tambunan, Pedalaman, Tuaran, Kota Kinabalu and Kota Belud.
Aftershocks were felt last night, at 9.10pm measuring 4.3 in magnitude, according to news reports, and again at 11.13pm and 11.32pm, according to the Facebook page of the Malaysian Meteorological Department.
The last two aftershocks were smaller, measuring 4.3 and 2.8 in magnitude, it said.
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