11 dead after a quake hits Malysian peak

Eleven people have died after a powerful earthquake hit Malaysia peak.

The 11 were one of the many climbers of the south east Asian mountain and included teachers and students. A 30 year old  mountain guide is among the those who lost their lives.

The victims claim that the quake struck blocking off trails and closing up all the paths causing them to remain stranded for more than 24 hours.

Shivering in near-freezing temperatures, they waited all day for a helicopter rescue that never came. But then a team of 75 more guides from the park arrived to help them escape.

Malaysia’s tourism minister announced of 9 bodies unidentified bodies saying that still there were reports of missing persons.

Many of the missing were students and teachers from a Singaporean primary school.

Singapore’s government was arranging a special flight to the disaster zone to fly parents from the school to Sabah to help in the search.

The magnitude 6.0 quake struck early Friday damaging several buildings in Ranau.

The climbers managed to reach safety after a grueling 10 hour hike through debris that lasted into the middle of the night, sharing what little food and water they had and passing by what appeared to be dead bodies.

Their hopes to be rescued remained futile and it was the efforts of the mountain guides who seemed to know the place that saved their lives. The mountain guides carved a route through the landscape, cutting branches and tying ropes to create a new path.

They later used ropes to cross the blocked paths by stepping on the shoulders of the guides until they reached down.

The victims say they owe their live to the mountain guides.