Ten people were killed in Malaysia this morning when two naval helicopters collided in mid-air. The helicopters were practicing for a show to celebrate the 90th anniversary of the Malaysian Navy this Friday. The ten victims were on board the helicopter. A person on the ground was slightly injured. The accident follows an incident in which two Japanese helicopters are believed to have collided and disappeared into the ocean. That happened last Saturday.
Leonardo AW139HOM of the Malaysian Navy. (Photo: Malaysian Navy)
Things went wrong this morning at 9:32 am at Lumut Naval Base on the Strait of Malacca. Six helicopters from the Malaysian Navy took off and flew towards the exercise site when two helicopters collided, as can be seen in images that have been widely shared on social media. It involved a Eurocopter Fennec and a Leonardo AW139HOM.
The two helicopters crashed immediately, the AW139 landing in a Navy football stadium and the Fennec near the base’s Navy swimming pool. A soldier who was swimming there was slightly injured.
There were ten people on board the helicopters. According to the Malaysian Navy, this involved seven crew members and three passengers. The passengers were a sailor and two petty officers.
The Malaysian Defense Minister said in an interview with the TV channel https://twitter.com/MelGohCNA/status/1782692013403717692 that it was the third time that the helicopters practiced for Friday’s festivities. The celebration of the navy’s ninetieth anniversary, including the open day on board the ships, has been canceled and will be replaced by a prayer.
The Navy had six Fennecs and three AW139 helicopters. The Fennec is a light helicopter that can be used for reconnaissance missions and, equipped with a rocket launcher, can also be used for attacks. This device has been in use in Malaysia since 2004. The AW139s are maritime transport helicopters and were delivered to Malaysia two years ago by the Italian company Leonardo.
Helicopter collision in Japan: one dead, seven missing
The helicopter accident in Malaysia is the second accident involving naval helicopters in a short time. On Saturday evening, two SH-60K helicopters ended up in the sea, almost 300 kilometers off the coast in the Pacific Ocean. The helicopters operated from Japanese naval vessels. There were eight people on board. And remains were soon found, seven others are still missing.
The cause of that accident is not known, but because debris from both helicopters was found next to each other in the sea, a collision is suspected. According to the Japanese navy, contact was first lost with one of the two helicopters, followed by a distress signal from the other aircraft a minute later. Moreover, there would have been no other ships or aircraft in the area. The helicopters flew beyond the range of land and ship radars. It is more than five kilometers deep locally.
| | Author: Jaime Karremann Jaime is the founder of Marineschappen.nl and has written more than 1,500 articles on various naval topics. In 2017, he published his non-fiction book In the utmost secrecy out and later a submarine thriller Orca. Before Jaime started working on this site full-time, he worked in the Navy for over 12 years, most of which in a civilian position. Jaime studied Communications in Groningen. |
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Tags: Japanese helicopter crash Malaysian navy helicopters collide
