KOTA KINABALU: A helicopter ferrying medical personnel had to make an emergency landing at a remote village in the Penampang district when the chopper encountered engine issues on Wednesday (Sept 25).
There were five people in the Layang Layang Aerospace Sdn Bhd helicopter consisting of the pilot and four Health Ministry staff members who were on a Flying Doctor Service (FDS) trip to the interior area when the incident occurred.
The helicopter had to land on a river with shallow water at Kampung Buayan.
A Sabah Air Aviation Sdn Bhd chopper later came to the rescue, airlifting the four ministry workers back to the Sabah Air base here.
Sabah Air chairman Datuk Kenny Chua said they were alerted to the incident after the Layang Layang pilot made a distress call to the control tower at the airport here at about noon.
Chua said the tower than radioed a Sabah Air chopper that was coincidentally on a medical evacuation (medevac) flight to the Tawau east coast district, which was in the vicinity of the Layang Layang helicopter’s location.
“The pilot flew to the site and ensured the (LayangLayang) helicopter made a safe landing before we sent another of our chopper to the location to fly out the ministry staff members,” he said when contacted.
