MIRI, Sept 9 — Police have confirmed the identities of all five victims of the Flying Doctor Service (FDS) helicopter crash at Long Lellang STOLport yesterday, with their remains taken to Miri Hospital for post mortems and formal identification.
The victims were pilot Zainol Afiq Bee Sham, 30; medical officer Dr Ainul Baraah Kamaruddin, 33; medical assistant Alexson Adit Henry, 31; and nurses Debra Moset, 40, and Jessie Paya Jok, 44.
Sarawak police commissioner Datuk Mohamad Zainal Abdullah said the victims were identified by personal belongings found with the bodies, pieces of clothing, and their seating positions in the helicopter.
“Formal identification will be carried out at the hospital and DNA samples from the families have been taken,” he told a media conference on the incident at Miri Airport today.
He said the families of the victims are being kept updated.
Zainal said preliminary investigations revealed several witnesses saw smoke and flames coming from the helicopter before it crashed.
Villagers tried to put out the blaze using fire extinguishers at the airport, but the victims were unable to escape.
“Based on the position of the helicopter, the pilot was believed to have been trying to land it safely because it was right at the end of the runway. Perhaps when it landed, it immediately caught fire and they did not have time to escape,” he said.
He said the helicopter was not equipped with a cockpit voice recorder or black box, and police have not found information indicating the pilot had made an emergency call before the crash.
The helicopter, built in 1991, last underwent maintenance on August 24 and had been cleared for another 100 flight hours, he said.
Police have opened a sudden death report, while the probe into the cause of the crash is being conducted by the Air Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB).
