Two explosions followed by fire, says RMAF incident witness

BUTTERWORTH: A witness of the accident involving a Royal Malaysian Air Force fighter jet at the RMAF Butterworth Air Base recounted what she saw, saying she heard two loud explosions moments before seeing flames shooting up into the air at the runway of the base.

"When the accident occurred around 10 (pm), I heard loud explosions...twice followed by a blaze after the plane crashed," the witness, Mastura Mohammad Nordin, 44, who owns an eatery at Kampung Benggali, Sungai Puyu here told reporters today.

She said after witnessing the incident, she and three of her workers along with several customers rushed from her stall, located some 100 metres away from the base, to the perimeter fence to get a clearer view of the incident and saw what looked like a fire on the base runway.

"After the crash, we rushed to the fence and saw a blaze. We hoped that nothing serious had befallen the pilot or any bystanders," she added.

An RMAF pilot was killed while another was injured when their Hawk fighter jet was involved in an accident at around 10.07 pm on Tuesday while on night flight training.

RMAF issued a statement identifying the pilots as Capt Mohamad Affendi Bustamy and Major Mohd Fareez Omar.

According to the statement, Mohamad Affendi was killed in the accident while Mohd Fareez, who sustained injuries, was reported to be in stable condition and was being treated at the Seberang Jaya Hospital.

Meanwhile, checks by Bernama at the Seberang Jaya Hospital showed that RMAF personnel and the police had arrived at 1 am at the hospital grounds to manage the funeral arrangements of the pilot killed in the accident.

Deputy Chief of Air Force Lt Gen Datuk Asghar Khan Goriman Khan was among those at the Forensics Department waiting for the body of Mohamad Affendi, which arrived at around 2 am.

It is understood that the hospital will be conducting a post-mortem on the pilot's remains this morning.

-- BERNAMA