Day of mourning declared in Sabah for earthquake victims

Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Aman said, all flags in the state will also be flown at half-mast adding that the Malaysia Tadau Kaamatan Open House has also been cancelled as a mark of respect.

"We must have respect for the deaths. It happened in our state.

"Our focus is to restore the situation here and to continue with search and rescue efforts," he said.

Search and rescue efforts recovered 11 bodies in the Mount Kinabalu area today, bringing the death toll to 13 so far.

Two bodies were recovered from the mountain area last night.

The search is on for six more individuals believed to be still in the area.

The quake struck Sabah at 7.15am Friday and is the strongest that hit the nation in 39 years.

According to the US Geological Survey, the quake struck at a depth of 10 kilometres, with is epicentre located 19 kilometres from the town of Ranau and 54 kilometres from Kota Kinabalu.