By DayakDaily Team
LUMUT, April 23: Ten Navy personnel died when two helicopters collided mid-air and crashed at the Royal Malaysian Navy (TLDM) camp today.
In a statement, the TLDM confirmed that two helicopters, identified as models HOM (M503-3) and Fennec (M502-6), collided and crashed in the 9.32am incident.
The HOM (M503-3) was carrying seven personnel, and the Fennec (M502-6) carried the remaining three.
“All the victims were confirmed dead at the scene and transported to the Lumut Royal Malaysian Navy Base military hospital for identification purposes,” it said.
It added that an investigation board would be established to look into the incident and requested the public not to share videos of the crash out of respect for the victims’ families and to facilitate the investigation process.
Earlier on, in a separate statement, the Perak Fire and Rescue Department (Bomba) operations centre said they received a call about the incident at around 9.50am.
It was understood that the incident occurred during rehearsal training for a celebration event.
A video of the incident showed one of the helicopters clipping the tail rotor of the other before the two crashed onto the ground. — DayakDaily
