Seventeen more bodies of climbers were recovered on Mount Kinabalu, the highest mountain in Malaysia, on Saturday bringing the toll to 19 after a 5.9 magnitude earthquake hit Sabah state on Friday, Tourism Minister Masidi Manjun said on Saturday.
Search and rescue officials said they did not expect to find any more bodies as all the missing climbers have been accounted for, the Malaysian Star reported.
According to the Malaysian Meteorological Services Department, the quake struck 16 km northwest of Ranau district near Mount Kinabalu, at a depth of 54 km. It was felt across Sabah state.
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 a hospital, Xinhua news agency reported.
Earlier in the day, Malaysian rescuers brought the last of 137 hikers down to safety.
The tremor triggered small landslides and stonefalls on the 4,095-metre Mount Kinabalu, the highest peak in Malaysia.
According to the photos posted online by the trapped climbers, parts of the iconic Donkey's Ear twin peaks of the mountain were badly damaged.
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