Dad accepts Siti’s death as job hazard

MALACCA: The father of 24-year-old paratrooper Siti Hajar Yakub who died during an exercise at the Lima 2007 air show in Langkawi, has accepted her death as an occupational hazard.  

Siti Hajar: Had served in the armedforces for four years

A former navy personnel himself, Yakub Keling, 56, said the possibility of death when serving in the armed forces was always there. 

“All the men and women who join the armed forces are always aware of the risks involved. Every other job has it own risks as well, not only those in the force,” he said.  

Yakub said he had received a phone call at 12.30pm saying an accident had occurred involving Siti Hajar.  

But two hours later, two army personnel from the Terendak army camp came to the house in Masjid Tanah to break the news of her death in person. 

“When I heard the news I was shocked but did not break down. I called my wife and other children to tell them the news,” he said. 

When met by reporters in Masjid Tanah yesterday evening, Yakub looked calm but spoke with a tinge of sadness and despair. 

“She was my only daughter among five children, and the third eldest. She had always wanted to join the army. I guess she got her inspiration seeing me work in the military before,” he said.  

Siti Hajar had served the army for four years and was based in the Terendak army camp, Sungai Udang, just 10km away from her parents’ house. She was a perajurit biasa (rank and file).  

“Siti often came home to visit me and my wife and the last time I saw her was last Friday. She said she was going to Langkawi for the LIMA exhibition there,” Yakub said.  

His wife, Rogayah Baba, who was away in Sabah, took the next available flight home after she heard the news. 

Insha’ary Ahmad, 55, said his niece had been engaged since December last year and was to have tied the knot in March.  

Meanwhile, close colleagues said Siti Hajar was an energetic and bubbly person and her death shocked them. 

“We know that accidents occur due to malfunction of the parachutes or unpredictable weather conditions but we sympathise with the family,” they said.  

They said only those who stood out among the others were selected to attend the army’s parachute jumping courses.  

Air show disasters Sept 15, 2007  A PILOT was killed after his plane crashed into a field about 1.5km north of the airfield of the Shoreham Air Show on the southern English coast in London. The single-crewed Hurricane aircraft was taking part in an aerial display before it appeared to veer off course during the simulation and crashed. No spectators were hurt.   April 21, 2007  A US Navy F-18 jet crashed during an air show in Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort in Beaufort, South Carolina, plunging into a neighbourhood of small homes and trailers, killing the pilot. The plane was part of the Blue Angels, a non-combat, flight demonstration squadron.   July 27, 2002  THE world’s worst air show disaster took place at the Sknyliv airshow in Lviv, Ukraine. Eighty-five people were killed and hundreds injured after a Russian-made Sukhoi Su-27 fighter jet, which was performing a manoeuvre at low altitude, nicked the ground, sliced into a plane on the tarmac and became a somersaulting fireball that ploughed into spectators.   June 10, 1999  A RUSSIAN Sukhoi Su-30 jet crashed at the start of the Paris air show after it scraped the ground while carrying out a “loop exercise”. The two pilots managed to eject to safety and no one was injured. The pilots tried unsuccessfully to regain altitude after brushing the ground. After the pilots ejected, the jet tumbled from the sky into a clear zone and exploded far from the crowd.