Loke: Plane veered off the flight path

SHAH ALAM: The aircraft that crashed near the Elmina township veered off to the right of the flight path just before the tragedy but there was no mayday call from the pilot.

The private jet’s first contact with the Air Traffic Control Tower of the Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah Airport in Subang came at 2.47pm and landing clearance was given at 2.48pm, said Transport Minister Anthony Loke.

Three minutes after clearance was given, personnel at the Subang ATC Tower saw a large column of smoke from the crash site, some 6km away.

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Footage from the CCTVs near the site shows that the plane just dropped from the sky and crashed.

“Efforts are now underway to recover the black box from the ill-fated plane.

“The Air Accident Investigation Bureau has been activated and deployed to the accident site to recover the black box,” Loke told a press conference at the airport in Subang last night.

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“All safety protocols were activated after the crash,” he added.

Loke said the six plane passengers who perished were Pelangai assemblyman Datuk Seri Johari Harun, Kharil Azwan Jamaludin, Shaharul Amir Omar, Mohamad Naim Fawwaz Mohamed Muaidi, Muhammad Taufiq Mohd Zaki and Idris Abdol Talib @ Ramali.

The two crew members on the ill-fated plane were pilots Shahrul Kamal Roslan and Heikal Aras Abdul Azim.

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Shahrul Kamal was the son-in-law of Johor Corporation CEO and president Datuk Syed Mohamed Syed Ibrahim.

Loke said the police had confirmed there were no survivors from the crash and the identities of the victims have to be confirmed through a forensic process carried out at the hospital.

The remains have been brought to the Tengku Ampuan Rahimah Hospital in Klang.

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“The identities will be announced by the police later,” he said, adding that the identities of the two road users who were killed would be confirmed by the police.

Selangor police chief Comm Datuk Hussein Omar Khan, who was also at the press conference, said the bodies of the victims had disintegrated.

“The bodies were difficult to identify because of the impact,” he said.

Loke advised people not to speculate as investigations are ongoing.