Two Malaysian Navy helicopters collided midair throughout a education session in the northwestern point out of Perak on Tuesday, killing all 10 people today on board, at minimum the next accident involving government plane in the Southeast Asian region in as quite a few months.
The two helicopters ended up rehearsing for Saturday’s 90th anniversary celebration of the Royal Malaysian Navy when they crashed into every single other at 9:32 a.m., the navy stated in a statement.
The 10 persons on board the two helicopters had been all crew and died at the scene, at the naval base in Lumut, the navy reported.
Video clips released by Malaysian news media showed the two helicopters crashing in midair and then different aircraft elements spiraling out of the sky.
“The country mourns the coronary heart-wrenching and soul-destroying tragedy involving the crash of the two helicopters at Lumut TLDM Base nowadays,” Key Minister Anwar Ibrahim explained in a assertion on social media, referring to the Malaysian abbreviation for the Royal Malaysian Navy.
Malaysia’s king, Sultan Ibrahim, claimed he was “deeply saddened more than the reduction of national heroes in this tragedy.”
The navy stated it would look into the cause of the collision. It asked the public not to circulate the video of the accident to safeguard the privateness of the household customers concerned. The defense minister, Khaled Nordin, informed reporters that the authorities could take into consideration delaying the anniversary celebration in the wake of the tragedy.
Previous month, four men and women were being rescued after a Malaysian coast guard helicopter crashed in the Strait of Malacca.
Tashny Sukumaran contributed reporting.
