Rising above swirling mists and billowing clouds, Mount Kinabalu is regarded by Sabahans as a sacred place where the spirits of the dead rest on their way up to their creator in the sky.

For Singaporean Jaidipsinh Jhala and his wife Karen, the mountain in Sabah, east Malaysia, is where their little girl, Sonia, “found the stairway to heaven”, they wrote in her obituary.

On June 5, 2015, the 12-year-old and six of her friends from Tanjong Katong Primary School (TKPS) in Singapore were climbing Mount Kinabalu when a 5.9-magnitude quake struck, killing them. Two of their teachers and a Singaporean adventure guide accompanying them were also killed.

Twenty-two pupils, six teachers and two Singapore guides who were also on the school expedition survived.

Slowly coming to terms with their devastating loss, the parents of some of the victims are now planning to do what was unthinkable just weeks ago: returning to Mount Kinabalu.

Mr Jhala said he wants to climb the mountain on June 5 next year, on the first anniversary of Sonia’s death. “It’s to finish what she could not finish, to honour her,” said the 48-year-old.

His wife added: “Some of the mothers said they might just go to the base, the fathers can climb. We can probably leave flowers, maybe at the site, perhaps even say prayers.”

The parents of some of the survivors also want to make their way back to the mountain next year.

Tristan Wing, 12, who suffered bruises on his back, still has flashbacks of the incident. But his father Alec Wing, who works in the technology sector, said he would let Tristan attempt the ascent again, and even go with him.

Another survivor, Emyr Uzayr, 12, who suffered a fractured skull and was airlifted back to Singapore, wants to reach the summit this time, said his father Sadri Farick, 37.

“It’s a beautiful place. My kid and some of his friends want to do it for their friends who passed away,” said Mr Sadri, who runs a home decor company.

Climbing Mount Kinabalu was to be the high point of their primary school years for the TKPS pupils. They had worked hard to be selected for the trip, which was part of what was termed the Omega Challenge programme for student and sports leaders, and trained for months to prepare themselves for the expedition.

They were on Day Three of their six-day trip when the quake struck.

The 10 from Singapore who died were pupils Sonia Jhala, Rachel Ho, Peony Wee, Ameer Ryyan Mohd Adeed Sanjay, Emilie Giovanna Ramu, Karyl Matahom and Navdeep Singh Jaryal Raj Kumar; teachers Terrence Sebastian Loo Jian Liang and Mohammad Ghazi Mohamed; and Singapore adventure guide Muhammad Daanish Amran.

Sonia’s parents, who flew to Kota Kinabalu after the quake, recalled how their worst fears were confirmed when another parent showed them a picture taken at the rescue site with Sonia in it. “That was when we knew she was no longer with us,” said Mr Jhala, who is in the safety training business.

The family is slowly coming to terms that the baby of the family - Sonia was the youngest of three children - is gone.

“I don’t have any issues. I don’t have any remorse, I don’t have any regret, I don’t have any questions. I am not angry with God. I totally accept that she was done with her life and she’s gone. Now I am just coping with the actual routine and reality,” said Mrs Jhala, 48, an administrative manager.

It was just after 5am on Friday, June 5.

The TKPS climbers rose early, excited to go on the Via Ferrata trail, or Italian for “iron road”. They wanted to avoid the fog that tends to roll in later in the morning.

It was Day Three of the trip for the group who reached Mount Kinabalu on June 3.

They were in high spirits, even though they had hiked 6km the previous day from Timpohon Gate, the start of the summit trail of Mount Kinabalu, to Pendant Hut, a dormitory for climbers. Pendant Hut is run by Mountain Torq, the company which manages the Via Ferrata trails.

That Friday morning, 23 pupils and eight teachers set out from Pendant Hut where they had stayed the night. Six students stayed behind as they were feeling unwell. They were accompanied by Mr Mohamad Amin, 29, an adventure guide from Camp Challenge, a Singapore trip organiser engaged by the school.

Those who were doing the Walk the Torq were split into five groups, each with four to five pupils, one or two teachers and an instructor from Mountain Torq.

Before starting out from Pendant Hut, they donned helmets and harnesses, and clipped on their shock absorbing lanyards. As an added precaution, climbers were linked with a rope.

They arrived at the start point of the trail at about 6.45am.

At around 7am, the first group was ready to go; they hooked their carabiners on the cables, and stepped onto the route which was on a slope.

At 7.15am, as the last two groups were about to get on the path, the ground began to shake. Rocks hailed down, and trees were ripped from the ground.

Pupil Jayden Francis, 12, was supposed to have been on the Via Ferrata. He was one of the students in the third group, he said, but the fourth group overtook them, and started on the Via Ferrata first.

He said: “We were waiting to go on the Via Ferrata. My group was about to go on... everything started shaking for like 30 seconds but I think that would have been the longest 30 seconds of my life.”

There was nowhere to take cover.

“We just huddled together, because if we took cover behind one of the rocks, it would have got hit,” he said.

When the quake stopped, Jayden was the only one in his group who was hurt.

“I was about to run down so the teacher pulled me back because that was where the rocks hit,” he said. Still, he was hit on the ankle by a falling rock.

Camp Challenge Adventure learning instructor Norashikin Isnin, 23, was with one of the two groups waiting to go on the Via Ferrata.

To her right, she saw boulders - some as large as trucks - fall on the Via Ferrata. To her left, trees were toppling, and the wooden stairs they were on collapsed.

They were crouched down in a circle, when a tree fell on her, hitting her on the head and back. It pinned her down, and trapped the leg of one of the girls. Branches from the tree broke off and hit the other pupils.

When the tremors stopped, she managed to free herself from under the tree.

“At that point I felt like fainting, but I told myself I couldn’t faint - that would just make matters worse, and I took a deep breath,” she told The Straits Times.

She thought she saw a rock hit her colleague Muhammad Daanish Amran, whose body was found later. She also heard those on the Via Ferrata crying “very loudly”.

On the Via Ferrata, about 12 to 15 pupils, with their teachers and guides, were on the rock face when boulders tumbled down from the broken peaks of Mount Kinabalu.

Amal Ashley Lim, 12, was one of the students who had just started on the Via Ferrata.

Linked by a rope to schoolmates El Wafeeq El Jauzy, Navdeep Singh Jaryal Raj Kumar and Sonia Jhala, they were led by teacher Madam Nur Uzaimah Fadzali. Behind them were Daanish Amran, the Singaporean guide, and a Mountain Torq trainer.

“Rocks were falling. I almost fell but luckily I grabbed on to my teacher’s legs,” Amal Ashley told The New Paper.

She was lucky enough not to be hurt by the falling rocks, which were half the size of car tyres. “They hit my backpack,” she said.

Her teacher, Madam Uzaimah, had pulled her under a rock overhang, but went out again to find help.

Another pupil, Emyr Uzayr, was saved by teacher Mohamed Faizal Abdul Salam. Mr Faizal cut the rope that bound him and the pupils, before cutting the ropes of Emyr’s harness. He used his body to shield him and two other pupils.

After the frantic rush to evacuate pupils from the Via Ferrata trail, the next challenge was to escort the children back to the area around Pendant Hut where they hoped to get help.

A few other guesthouses, such as Laban Rata and Waras Hut, were in the area.

There were two helipads, one near Laban Rata, at around 3,200m, and another near Paka Shelter at about 3,000m.

The nearest place of safety was the helipad near Laban Rata, 500m from the start point of the simplified Walk the Torq trail. The Mountain Torq trainers had called for helicopters to take climbers down the mountain.

Camp Challenge instructor Norashikin Isnin led the students who could move down the mountain, while some teachers stayed to help free a girl whose leg was stuck under a tree.

They made their way down from the Via Ferrata in groups.

One trainer from Mountain Torq made multiple trips, carrying 10 people to the helipad.

Mr James Maikol, a Mountain Torq trainer with the TKPS group, found Amal Ashley Lim, who was hiding under an overhang near the Via Ferrata.

On their way down, they found her schoolmate El Wafeeq El Jauzy, who was injured and had difficulty walking. Together, Ashley and Mr Maikol helped Wafeeq walk slowly to the helipad at Laban Rata.

Ashley also saw her form teacher, Mr Mohamed Faizal Abdul Salam, who was badly hurt but was helping injured pupils down the mountain.

They arrived at the helipad at about 1pm and met three other TKPS pupils.

At the Waras Hut guesthouse, they ran into Camp Challenge guide Mohamad Amin and the group of TKPS pupils who had stayed behind at Pendant Hut because they were unwell.

Among those who came from the Via Ferrata, at least one boy had a broken arm, some had sprained ankles, bruises, head and shoulder injuries.

From there, Ms Norashikin Isnin led the first group of 11 children down the summit trail.

She told them not to think about the pain, as they did not know when another earthquake may strike.

They were the first group from TKPS to reach the Timpohon Gate, where the Mount Kinabalu summit trail begins, at around 11am.

“The moment we reached Timpohon Gate, we started feeling all the pain,” she said.

The 6km descent took them close to three hours.

Back at Waras Hut, Mr Amin was with the last group of five students from the Via Ferrata, some of whom were more seriously injured.

After tending to the children’s injuries, the group made their way down to the second helipad at Paka Shelter.

But the helicopters which were promised could not land, and they had to make their way down the mountain by foot. Said Mr Amin: “We could hear the sound of helicopters, but couldn’t see them.”

The going was slow as two of the students – Arnaav Chabria and Wafeeq – needed help walking.

Along the way, they bumped into Sabah guide Rizuan Kauhinin, who carried Wafeeq on his back down the still shuddering mountain.

When they finally reached Timpohon Gate, it was already 7pm.

Besides the TKPS group, about 100 other climbers were stranded on Mount Kinabalu’s summit plateau.

They had climbed up to Low’s Peak – the mountain’s highest point – to take in the sunrise. The earthquake broke off two of the mountain’s peaks, and the trail they took to the summit had been destroyed. Cold, hungry and thirsty, they waited for help to come.

At 4pm, when it became clear that help would not come that day, the Sabah mountain guides took action.

They forged a new path down the mountain, tying ropes for the guests, and using their bodies as safety barriers so the climbers could get down safely.

The deadly quake has trained the spotlight on the increasing number of overseas trips organised by schools here.

About 90,000 students travel overseas with their schools each year on 3,500 learning journeys, according to 2013 figures from the Ministry of Education.

The trips have varying aims - from community service and cultural exchanges, to academic enrichment and experiential learning.

While many believe in the value of overseas school trips, some ask if there are lessons to be learnt from the unfortunate incident.

IPC Tours director Raj Kumar, believes it is a good idea to raise age guidelines for Mount Kinabalu.

“A five-year gap plays a big difference in the emotional maturity of children,” he said. “In emergencies, older children might be more confident in making better judgments and reacting faster.”

Mr Sim Tim Suan, founder of Adventure Quests, feels that Mount Kinabalu should not be attempted by 12-year-olds in big groups.

Mount Kinabalu is marketed as a “climbable mountain” as the summit trail is well-marked, and no special equipment is required. It is, however, very high at 4,095m.

Mr Sim, a veteran trekker who has hiked up Mount Kinabalu nine times, calls it “a very intense hike”. The height and the exertion could lead to altitude sickness, which he says easily affects three out of 10 climbers.

There is no fixed age limit for mountain climbing but he would not recommend schools to bring students younger than 16 years old.

“In a school group there’s a lot of peer pressure, and sometimes because of peer pressure, even if you don’t feel well you may not voice it out,” said Mr Sim, 47, who organises outdoor trips for students from polytechnics, junior colleges and universities.

It is different for children who are climbing with their parents, or have the personal attention of experienced climbers, he added.

Others, however, feel that 12-year-olds are more than ready to take on the challenge.

Ms Joanne Soo of Ace Adventure Expeditions has guided 12-year-old pupils on mountain climbing expeditions.

She once brought a group of primary school students to climb the 1,010-km Gunung Belumut in Johor. Although the mountain has a much lower altitude compared to Mount Kinabalu, it is more technically challenging to climb, said Ms Soo, 44.

Young climbers are easier to train than adults, she noted, adding that the precautions they should take for mountain sickness are similar.

“They are old enough to understand the consequences,” she said.

Members of Parliament The Straits Times spoke to said that the tragedy should not stop schools from organising overseas trips for children.

Ms Denise Phua, vice-chair of the Government Parliamentary Committee for education, said: “It is an unforeseen tragedy, beyond the imagination of both school and families. It would be a knee jerk reaction if MOE now stops all such similar activities.”

Non-Constituency MP Yee Jenn Jong is also supportive of overseas school trips.

He said that his three children have been on many trips with both their schools and with the family, including New Zealand, Xining, Cambodia and the interiors of Kalimantan. His youngest son is now 16.

“I really feel very sad about the lives that were lost, but it is a natural disaster that can happen anywhere. It’s important as part of education to have different forms of exposure for children out of the classroom locally and overseas,” he told The Straits Times.

On June 29, the first day of school after the deadly earthquake, pupils of Tanjong Katong Primary School were greeted by sunflowers and cheery balloons at the school porch - a gift from Rachel Ho’s family to the returning pupils.

At their first morning assembly, the students sang the school song, which ended with “At Tanjong Katong Primary, we’re one big family”.

It was a bittersweet return to a school which lost seven pupils and two teachers from its family, but rallied together during the crisis, and was ready to heal.

All but one of the 22 pupils who survived were back at school. Prajesh Dhimant Patel was still warded at KK Hospital, but recovering from his injuries.

But before moving on, principal Caroline Wu listed each of those who died during the quake, and asked the pupils gathered to remember them in their prayers.

We remember them, and adventure guide Muhammad Daanish Amran, here.