KOTA KINABALU: Former Sekong assemblyman Datuk Samsudin Yahya has died on a flight back to Sabah on Thursday (Oct 20).
The plane bringing the 68-year-old had to turn back to the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) 40 minutes into the flight, which took off at about 2pm.
When contacted, KLIA OCPD Asst Comm Imran Abd Rahman confirmed the case but declined to elaborate further.
"I can confirm this but have yet to receive further information," he said.
Deputy Chief Minister and Sabah Umno chief Datuk Seri Bung Moktar Radin confirmed that Samsudin had passed away, adding efforts are underway to fly his body back to his hometown in the Sandakan district.
"He was a good friend of mine and I knew him very well. He was a good man. We've lost a very good leader in Batu Sapi (where the Sekong state seat is located)," he said.
Samsudin first contested the Sekong seat in the 2013 General Election and won by a 3,530-vote majority against PKR's Musah Ghani.
He, however, failed to defend the seat in 2018, losing it to Warisan's Arifin Asgali.
