KOTA KINABALU (THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK) - "My daddy will not come back anymore."

Those were the words of innocent, six-year-old Lim Xing Yi, who was seen playing and talking to waiting families at the Queen Elizabeth mortuary.

The boy was with his mother, grandmother and uncles who were waiting for the body of his 45-year-old father, Malaysian Lim Choon Seong, to be released after the post-mortem. Mr Lim was killed in last Friday's quake at Mount Kinabalu.

Xing Yi shrugged when asked what he was doing at the mortuary. He slowly opened up when he was given a tablet computer to play with.

He nodded when asked if he was waiting for his father. To another question of where his father was or whether he was hurt, he pointed to the sky, indicating that Mr Lim had gone to heaven.

Mr Lim's mother was inconsolable and was seen sobbing while she huddled around members of the hospital and the Buddhist Tzu Chi Foundation.

She and other families of the quake victims had been waiting since morning for the conclusion of the post-mortem of their loved ones at the hospital.

Several family members were seen crying while the others sat quietly and spoke in hushed tones.

Members of the hospital's psychiatric, nursing, and public relations team as well as some Buddhist Tzu Chi Foundation members have been keeping the affected families company since Sunday morning.