Piloting dream dashed
Tourism graduate Aidana Baizieva had wanted to become a pilot.
SEMENYIH: Before her death in the helicopter crash here, Aidana Baizieva lived in an apartment in Pantai Dalam after graduating with a diploma in tourism from a local college.
She also travelled recently to visit the Langkawi International Maritime and Aerospace Exhibition (LIMA) with helicopter pilot Clifford Fournier.
Revealing this yesterday, Selangor police chief Senior Deputy Comm Datuk Abdul Samah Mat said although there was still no conclusive DNA evidence on Aidana’s identity, police were satisfied with the investigations so far.
“Based on our investigations, we believe that she was indeed Aidana Baizieva, 25, from Kyrgyzstan. A team of investigators have gone to her apartment in Pantai Dalam and acquired items to collect her DNA.
“We also found evidence in the form of plane tickets to Langkawi on March 21 for LIMA with her name and that of the pilot,” he told reporters at the crash site command centre yesterday.
Aidana, he said, had been in Malaysia since 2010 and studied in three different colleges in Klang Valley before graduating with a diploma in tourism.
According to statements from the apartment management, SDCP Abdul Samah said Fournier had visited the place several times.
“We believe that the girl was an acquaintance of the pilot. She had shown an interest in flying and wanted to become a pilot.
“Based on statements from the helicopter company, she had joined the pilot on other flights,” he said.
Should the DNA test prove to be inconclusive, police would have to call Aidana’s 75-year-old father from Kyrgyzstan to give his DNA sample.
SDCP Abdul Samah also confirmed that the body of the pilot had been claimed by an undertaker employed by the US embassy.
A team of French investigators from Airbus Helicopters and its engine manufacturer had arrived to join the investigation, he said.
In KUALA LUMPUR, a source close to the investigation said Aidana’s body would only be released from the Hospital Kuala Lumpur mortuary after police receive the postmortem report.
Kyrgyz ambassador Kylychbek Sultanov said it would do everything to help Aidana’s family bring her body home.
Aidana’s stepsister in Malaysia is making the arrangements, he added. Sultanov said the stepsister, from a different mother, was married to a Malaysian and was staying with her family here.