Police confirm all bodies recovered from helicopters’ crash

LUMUT: The bodies of the 10 victims involved in the mid-air collision and crash involving two helicopters at the Royal Malaysian Navy (RMN) base in Lumut were recovered earlier today.

Perak police chief Datuk Seri Mohd Yusri Hassan Basri stated that the HOM aircraft (M503-3) with seven crew members onboard crashed on the Lumut RMN Stadium racetrack, while the Fennec aircraft with three crew members crashed into the Lumut RMN Sports Complex swimming pool.

"There were no survivors in the incident. The victims comprised seven men and three women. All the bodies have been sent to the Lumut RMN Military Hospital to be identified.

"Investigations led by RMN, with the Royal Malaysia Police, and the Malaysian Fire and Rescue Department are underway at the crash sites. Further details will be released later," he said during a press conference here today.

Mohd Yusri added that all the victims' family members have been notified for identification purposes and the bodies will later be sent to the Raja Permaisuri Bainun Hospital in Ipoh for post-mortems.

In the 9.30 incident reported this morning the two helicopters collided mid-air and crashed during a rehearsal for the RMN's 90th Anniversary celebration scheduled for May 3 to 5.

The HOM and Fennec helicopters reportedly took off from Padang Sitiawan at 9.03 am.

-- BERNAMA