A collision on Tuesday between two Malaysian navy helicopters caused the death of all ten crew members during training in the west of the Malaysian peninsula, emergency services announced.
“The two helicopters collided during flight training. The death of the 10 victims was confirmed by military doctors,” said Suhaimy Mohamad Suhail, an official with the fire and rescue service, in a statement.
Videos of the accident posted online show seven helicopters flying low in formation above the stadium at the Lumut naval base in the western state of Perak during a rehearsal ahead of a planned navy event in May.
When two of the helicopters broke away from the formation, and turned right, one of them can be seen hitting the tail rotor of the other.
Both aircraft then spun and crashed. In the footage, witnesses to the crash can be heard shouting: “Allah, Allah, Allah.”
The two helicopters involved are a Eurocopter AS555SN Fennec and an AgustaWestland AW139, emergency services said.
Photos taken from the accident scene show rescue workers surrounding the badly damaged Eurocopter on the runway at the naval base stadium as well as various debris. The AgustaWestland crashed in the base's swimming pool area.
“The nation mourns after this heartbreaking tragedy for the heart and soul,” wrote Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim in a message of condolences addressed to the families of the victims.
“I have been informed that an immediate investigation will be carried out by the Ministry of Defence, in particular by the TLDM (Royal Malaysian Navy, editor’s note), in order to find the cause of the accident,” he said. said.
The Southeast Asian country has seen several recent precedents for helicopter accidents.
Last month, a coast guard aircraft crashed in the Strait of Malacca without causing any casualties.
In 2016, a deputy minister was among the victims of the crash of a Eurocopter AS350 carrying six people in the state of Sarawak on the island of Borneo (east).
