IN PHOTO: Mount Kinabalu appears through the clouds over Kota Kinabalu, capital of the east Malaysian state of Sabah on Borneo island, in this March 8, 2002 aerial photograph.
IN PHOTO: Mount Kinabalu appears through the clouds over Kota Kinabalu, capital of the east Malaysian state of Sabah on Borneo island, in this March 8, 2002 aerial photograph. Known as "aki nabalu" or "home of the spirits of the dead" to the Kadazan Dusun locals, Kinabalu is Southeast Asia's highest mountain, standing at 4,095 metres (13,432 feet). Picture taken March 8. REUTERS/Bazuki Muhammad

A magnitude 6.0 earthquake occurred at Mount Kinabalu, Malaysia, on Friday, leaving 13 dead and six missing mountaineers. Mountain guides helped 167 climbers to safety after the strong quake.

Mt. Kinabalu is one of the tallest peaks in Asia. There were 19 students and two teachers from Singapore who took an adventure at the mountain when the earthquake struck, which caused a perilous rock slide on Friday.

On Saturday, Singapore's Minister of Education Heng Swee Keat met the survivors in the airport. "The students (are) shaken but are safe," he said. According to the director of Northern Malaysia's Sabah Parks conservation area on Saturday evening, the death toll from the quake and its aftermath rouse at 13 and there were 11 bodies found earlier in the day in Mount Kinabalu, while there were six people remain missing.

The crushing rock slides that killed those hikers were caused by a tremor, according to the park director, Jamili Nais. Although there was danger at the mountain, the rescuers didn't give up finding stranded hikers. There were 400 rescue workers who scoured the grounds to look for the missing persons, help the injured survivors and clear paths on the mountain, even the helicopters had flown overhead.

As the efforts of the rescuers continued, the mourning of the relatives and the survivors began. Malaysian tourism minister Masidi Manjun declared Monday as "day of mourning" in Sabah while Sunday is national Kaamatan celebration, a harvest festival. The process of taking the dead off the mountain is still ongoing.

Manjun confirmed that there were nine bodies were flown by helicopter from Kinabalu on Saturday. BOMBA, Malaysia's fire and rescue department, tweeted pictures of the depressing situation during the rescue operation.

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