(DEFENCE SECURITY ASIA) — Ten victims, comprising seven crew members and three passengers, tragically lost their lives in an incident involving the collision of two helicopters engaged in a exercise in conjunction with the 90th Anniversary Celebration of the Royal Malaysian Navy (RMN) this morning.
The two helicopters, identified as models AW139 and Fennec, took off from Padang Sitiawan at 9:03 a.m.
According to footage circulating, they are believed to have collided while attempting to form a cross-honor flight formation planned to take place in the airspace of the RMN Lumut Base.
Following the collision, both aircraft lost control before crashing.
The AW139 helicopter crashed onto the steps of the RMN Lumut Stadium, while the Fennec helicopter crashed into the swimming pool of the RMN Lumut Sports Complex.
At the time of the incident, the AW139 was carrying four crew members and three passengers, while the Fennec awas carrying three crew members.
As of now, there are no survivors reported from the incident. — DSA