Three paratroopers, two of them women, drowned while 11 others were injured during a training session that went awry at the Langkawi International Maritime and Aerospace (LIMA) 2007 exhibition here today (Dec 2). [Bernama]
Three paratroopers of the 10th Para Brigade drowned and five others were injured at about 10.30am when they parachuted into the sea off Kuala Muda after they were blown off course by strong winds when training for the opening of LIMA 2007.
My condolences to the victims’ family.
2007 has not been a good year for Malaysian soldiers; first the Nuri crash, now the paratroopers… 9 soldiers have lost their life from these 2 accidents.
An article from The Jakarta Post about relationship between Malaysia and Indonesia.
The article is biased in some sense, but lots of the things mentioned are fact. Their influx of illegal immigrants have caused some social issues for us, but on the other hand Malaysians in general are not treating our foreign labours with dignity.
To make it worse not only the workers that were discriminated recently, but visitors and students were harassed as well.
The author in the end suggested that Indonesian will have to resolve to military might to win Malaysia’s respect… it sounds radical but mind that Malaysia is upgrading our military force as well with the recent purchase of the submarine and fighter jets.
It would be stupid though, if these 2 countries get into war for these matters.
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Deputy Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak is in France to witness the launch of Malaysia’s first submarine.
I don’t have the exact figure how much it cost for the sub… if I remember correctly it’s around a billion Euros for 2 Scorpene-class submarines. I am not sure if we do need submarines in our defense, but I am not against government’s decision to upgrade and improve our weapons and defense system.
What I don’t wish to see though, is government leaders using this occasion to brag about how technological advance we are. Owning a sub doesn’t mean that we are technological capable of building one… it just proves that we have the money to buy one.
The investigation report on the Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF) Nuri helicopter which crashed in Genting Sempah in July has been released. The report indicates that the copter hit the canopy of trees thrice while flying low over the area before going down.
The investigation also found that bad weather, which had reduced visibility to less than two kilometres, and the hilly terrain in the area had also contributed to the mishap. There was no evidence pointing to any technical fault in the helicopter. [Bernama]
Termuzi Abd Aziz, father of the deceased pilot, Capt Norazlan Termuzi, said that the board of inquiry had not conducted the investigation in a comprehensive manner, claiming that the probe was only conducted at the scene of the crash without considering “other factors”.
Deputy Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak was fast to respond that the probe was conducted professionally. [Bernama]
The report is obviously trying to load all the responsibilities to the deceased. It could be true that the pilot’s mistake could have cause the accident eventually… but as the elder Termuzi mentioned… shouldn’t we look a bit beyond that?
For example, who was giving the order for the crew to take the flight? When did the weather report come in? Did the crew know about the weather condition prior to lifting off? If they did, whose call was it to continue the flight anyway… the captain, the crew or higher ranking officers? Why were they flying so low… was they forced to because of the copter’s ability? Could the accident be avoided if they had a better chopper?
I won’t call the report a cheat, but there are lots of unattended questions. I strongly doubt that it could be regarded as a professional report.
My condolences to the families of the 6 crew members of the Nuri helicopter who died in the crash near Genting Sempah last Friday (July 13).
I don’t have the expertise to determine if it is still safe to use the Nuri helicopters that has been in service since 1968. The fact that over 70 lives are claimed all these years in numerous Nuri’s crashes should convince most people not to board on one of these helicopters.
Our soldiers have no options though. One of the deceased members, Captain Nor Azlan Termuzi, had voiced his concerns about flying with Nuri, fearing the safety of the aging helicopters. [LKS]
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