2 climbers killed, 17 missing after quake hits Malaysia's highest mountain

Two people were killed and 17 climbers, including one Chinese national, were still unaccounted for on Mount Kinabalu after a 5.9-magnitude earthquake hit Malaysia's eastern Sabah state, a Malaysian official said on Saturday.

Ranau District Police Chief Superintendent Farhan Lee Abdullah told the media that eight Singaporeans, six Malaysians, and three people each from China, the Philippines and Japan were still missing after the earthquake on Friday.

The bodies of a 12-year-old Singaporean student and a 30-year- old local mountain guide have already been brought down and taken to hospital, he added.

The Chinese Consulate in Kota Kinabalu told Xinhua that a Chinese was among the those missing after the quake, and local authorities were continuing an effort to locate those climbers.

Ferhan said that the search and rescue operation was still underway.

"We will continue the search until everyone has been accounted for," he said.

The Malaysian Meteorological Department said the earthquake, which occurred at 7:15 a.m. local time (2315 GMT Thursday), was centered 16 km northwest of Ranau near Mount Kinabalu, with a depth of 54 km. It was felt across the Sabah state.

The tremor triggered small landslides and stonefalls on the 4, 095-meter Mount Kinabalu, the highest peak in Malaysia. According to the photos posted online by the trapped climbers, part of the iconic Donkey's Ear twin peaks of the mountain were badly damaged.

Hikers always start climbing the mountain after midnight from the camp and reach the top by dawn to watch the sunrise. Endi