KLANG: With wreckage strewn over a 50m circumference, rescuers had to work for hours to extricate the bodies of two people who had been in a light plane that nose-dived and crashed at an oil palm plantation here.
Their task to recover the bodies was made more difficult as almost half of the aircraft wreckage was buried 2m deep in the ground.
The bodies of the two victims – pilot Daniel Yee Hsiang Khoon, 30 and passenger Roshaan Singh Rania, 42 – were recovered at about 8pm, some six hours after the crash at about 1.50pm.
Yee was from Penang while Roshaan Singh was from Johor.
Both victims were trapped in the plane’s cockpit.
“The plane, weighing about 1,300kg, crashed and was buried as deep as about 2m into the ground,” Selangor police chief Comm Datuk Hussein Omar Khan told reporters here yesterday.
He said police received an emergency call at about 1.45pm, which was roughly 17 minutes after the aircraft took off from Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah Airport in Subang – about 40km east of Kampung Tok Muda here.
Difficult recovery mission: Firemen carrying equipment to the crash site for the recovery operation at Kampung Tok Muda Kapar in Kapar. — Bernama
The plane is believed to have exploded in mid-air before crashing into the oil palm plantation.
“We have recovered the bodies. Both bodies will be brought to Hospital Klang for post-mortem and identification by the family members,” he added.
Comm Hussein said the recovery team had to dig more than 2m using a backhoe borrowed from the local council.
“It was hard because the wreckage was buried. We can’t simply dig. It’s not easy,” he said.
He said debris from the aircraft was found within a 50m radius of the crash site but no damage was reported in nearby areas.
“The plane is a recreational aircraft. The pilot was an instructor who was attached to a recreational flying club. The passenger was a member of the club,” he said.
Comm Hussein said about 130 to 150 personnel from various agencies such as the police, fire and rescue department and public defence department worked to retrieve the bodies.
The Air Accident Investigation Bureau, under the Transport Ministry, will be conducting further investigations into the crash.
Yee’s family members were also spotted near the makeshift operation room. They were met by Kapar MP Dr Halimah Ali who was also at the site.
