Story highlights 13 are dead after a magnitude-6.0 earthquake strikes in Malaysia

11 bodies are found on Mount Kinabalu; 6 people still aren't accounted for

Primary school students from Singapore are among the dead and survivors

(CNN) They had gone to Kinabalu, one of Southeast Asia's tallest peaks, for adventure. They left with heartbreak -- knowing some of their classmates and teachers weren't coming home with them.

That was the harsh reality for 19 students and two teachers from a Singapore primary school who'd been among those caught up in Friday's magnitude-6.0 quake and the perilous rock slide it caused.

"The students (are) shaken but are safe," Singapore's Minister of Education Heng Swee Keat said after a "very emotional" airport meeting Saturday with the surviving students and teachers. "The teachers are also affected, but stayed resilient."

As of early Saturday evening in Malaysia, the death toll from the quake and its aftermath stood at 13 -- 11 bodies were found earlier in the day on Mount Kinabalu -- with six people there still unaccounted for, according to the director of northern Malaysia's Sabah Parks conservation area.

The tremor triggered crushing rockslides and knocked over boulders that killed those hiking on Kinabalu's trails, explained the park director, Jamili Nais.

Read More