(MENAFN- QNA) Eleven people have died and eight others are missing after a powerful earthquake jolted Malaysia's highest peak, Mount Kinabalu, an official said on Saturday.
The 6.0-magnitude quake struck early Friday near the picturesque mountain, a popular tourist destination, sending landslides and huge granite boulders tumbling down from the 4,095-metre (13,435-foot) peak's wide, jagged crown.
"From Kinabalu park management, I want to express my condolences to the families of the victims," said Masidi Manjun, tourism minister for the Malaysian state of Sabah on Borneo island, as he announced the toll at the mountain park's headquarters.
Masidi said authorities were not yet ready to release the identities of the dead and missing. Malaysian media reports said they included members of a Singapore primary school group on an excursion to the peak, including a 12-year-old girl who was killed.
Malaysian rescuers earlier on Saturday finished bringing down to safety 137 hikers who were stuck on the mountain for up to 18 hours, their descent blocked by damage to a key trail and the threat of continuing rockfalls.
The Kinabalu Today news portal quoted search and rescue personnel saying most on the peak when the quake hit were Malaysian but they also included hikers from Singapore, the United States, the Philippines, Britain, Thailand, Turkey, China and Japan.
Local media reported that a Malaysian climbing guide was among the dead, but authorities have not provided details on the injuries suffered by victims.
The quake, one of the strongest in the country in decades, jolted a wide area of Sabah state, shattering windows, cracking walls and sending people fleeing from buildings in the nearby state capital of Kota Kinabalu.
No reports of major damage have emerged in the state and no other casualties have yet been reported outside of those on the mountain.
At least two minor temblors also were reported overnight, adding further tension to rescue efforts.
Strong earthquakes are rare in Malaysia, which lies just outside the Ring of Fire, the belt of seismic activity running around the Pacific basin.
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