By Mardhiah Husna
Edited By Izyan Nazihah
SHAH ALAM, 17 August 2023: At least 10 people—among them an assemblyman—were killed on Thursday after a small aircraft, specifically a private business jet, collided with two vehicles and fell into a highway near Shah Alam.
According to Shah Alam district police chief Mohamad Iqbal Ibrahim, the 10 people killed in the disaster included eight people on board the plane and two drivers—a biker and a driver of a car—who were struck by the falling aircraft.
At around 2.10 pm, shortly before it was scheduled to arrive, the aircraft, which was carrying six passengers and two crew members, crashed while en route from the resort island of Langkawi to Subang airport in Selangor. According to Selangor Police Chief Hussein Omar Khan, the plane lost communication with the air traffic control tower before it crashed.
Thousands of people have watched videos of the catastrophe that were uploaded on social media, in which thick smoke is visible pouring from charred sections of the road near the Elmina neighbourhood of Shah Alam. Social media videos also featured photos of burned-out bodies with vehicle bits on a street in the Elmina Valley neighbourhood, close to Central Park and the Guthrie Highway.
One of the victims, according to the Transport Ministry, was Pahang state assemblyman Johari Harun, 54, who was running as a new Barisan Nasional candidate in the general election of 2022. He was elected to the state seat of Pelangai in the Bentong legislative district.
The Civil Aviation Authority of Malaysia (CAAM), then, revealed that the aircraft was a Beechcraft 390 with the registration number N28JV.
The authorities are still investigating the mystery behind this incident, as the private aircraft itself is a registered aircraft and the two crew members are identified as skilled and well-experienced. At the time being, the Minister of Transport, Anthony Loke, declined to speculate, nor did he want the media or Malaysians to create speculation until the authorities were done with the investigation.
Let us pray for the deceased and hope this kind of incident will not happen again. Thanks to those videos that were uploaded, numerous people have sent their condolences to the victims and their families. ***
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