(MENAFN- Arab News) KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian authorities said on Sunday 16 bodies had been recovered from the country's highest peak Mount Kinabalu after a magnitude 6 earthquake caused landslides and aftershocks.
The victims were 6 Malaysians one from the Philippines China and Japan and 7 Singaporeans including children who were on a school trekking trip.
Minister for Tourism Culture and Environment Masidi Manjun told reporters in Kinabalu park that two people were listed as missing and that body parts had been found.
The search and rescue operations would continue on Monday Manjun said.
Some climbers managed to make it down but more than 130 from 16 countries had been stranded on the mountain on Borneo island when the quake struck on Friday.
Rescue and recovery operations have been hampered by rubble and thick clouds which prevented helicopters from quickly retrieving the bodies.
'KM6.5 of the route was dubbed 'river of stones' when earthquake struck early Friday which rendered the track impassable trapping climbers' Manjun said on Twitter.