Witness
reports mid-air explosion as six people killed, including Najib Razak’s
principal private secretary and senior member of his party
The Guardian, AFP, Kuala Lumpur, Sunday 5 April 2015
The Malaysian prime minister’s chief of staff and and his country’s former ambassador to the US were among six people killed when a helicopter crashed south of Kuala Lumpur on Saturday.
The scene of the helicopter crash that killed the Malaysia PM’s chief of staff. Photograph: Xinhua News Agency/REX/Xinhua News Agency/REX |
The Malaysian prime minister’s chief of staff and and his country’s former ambassador to the US were among six people killed when a helicopter crashed south of Kuala Lumpur on Saturday.
The
helicopter went down in a rubber plantation in the town of Semenyih, killing
everyone on board, including Najib Razak’s principal private secretary, Azlin
Alias.
Also among
the dead was Jamaluddin Jarjis, an MP and senior member of Najib’s political
party, UMNO, also a former Malaysian ambassador to the US.
“I am
personally grief-struck. Jamaluddin Jarjis was my friend of many years and no
truer friend could I have,” Najib said in a statement.
“Azlin
Alias was my chief of staff and a truly outstanding government servant. The
contributions of these two men to the government, to UMNO and to Malaysia were
very significant.”
Najib added
that he had ordered an investigation into the cause of the crash, saying that
“no stone will be left unturned”.
The
transport minister, Liow Tiong Lai, said in a separate statement that all six
bodies had been recovered and sent to a hospital in the capital, Kuala Lumpur.
“This is
indeed a great loss and my thoughts and prayers are with their families and the
families of the other victims during this tragic time,” the minister said.
A witness
told Malaysia’s official Bernama news agency that the helicopter “exploded in
mid-air” during heavy rain.
“Then, the
debris, tail and blades were thrown all over the place,” the witness, Roslan
Harun, was quoted as saying.
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