2 killed in light aircraft crash
KAPAR: The pilot and passenger onboard the light aircraft model BK 160 Gabriel that crashed at Kampung Tok Muda here Tuesday afternoon are confirmed dead, said Selangor Police chief Datuk Hussein Omar Khan.
He said that according to the registered flight manifest, the victims were identified as Daniel Yee Hsiang Khoon, 30, and Roshaan Singh Raina, 42.
He added that in the 1.45 pm incident, both victims are believed to have been buried in the aircraft cockpit more than two metres deep in the ground in an oil palm plantation area.
Hussein said the victims were believed to be carrying out a recreational flight before the incident occurred.
“Efforts to retrieve the body of the two men are being carried out and expected to be completed at about 10 pm today. Their bodies will be taken to the Tengku Ampuan Rahimah Hospital (HTAR) in Klang,” he told a media conference at the scene of the crash
He said preliminary investigations found that 45 per cent of the aircraft’s body was buried underground after crashing into the oil palm plantation.
He said that based on their identity cards, the victims hailed from Johor and Penang but are believed to have stayed in Selangor.
Hussein said a total of 150 personnel from various agencies are involved in efforts to retrieve the bodies, with the search for the wreckage being conducted within a 50-metre radius.
“We have difficulties taking the bodies out from the wreckage, which is buried deep in the ground, and have to use a backhoe,” he said. He added that the incident, however, did not cause any damage to the houses of residents around the area.
An eyewitness said that he saw the light aircraft flying in an unusual pattern before it crashed in Kampung Tok Muda, Kapar Tuesday.
Jinaidi Nasiran, 55, said he was changing the tyre of his car in his parking lot, facing the location where the aircraft nosedived into the ground, when the mishap occurred at about 1.30 pm.
“Something is off with the way the aircraft was flying.
“Suddenly it nose-dived into the ground…and I rushed to the crash site and saw that the plane was already in pieces and slightly buried in the ground.
“I tried to look for victims, but none was spotted,” he told Bernama at the scene.
Meanwhile, Siti Zubaidah Salin, 60, who lives 150 metres from the crash site, said she heard a loud explosion, felt a tremor and thought it was an earthquake.
“I was just relaxing at home... when suddenly it felt like an earthquake had occurred. I ran outside but there was nothing. Only later that I hear people talking about a plane crash,” she said.
A fruit seller, Sufian Hadi Abas, 45, said he heard a very loud explosion in the air before the crash.
“When I looked up, I saw fragments of the plane flying everywhere before it crashed into the ground,” he said.
Earlier, the Civil Aviation Authority of Malaysia (CAAM) confirmed that two persons including the pilot were onboard the light aircraft that crashed in Kapar Tuesday.