Deeply saddened: The King (centre) grieving while talking to the victims’ family members at the crash site in Elmina. – IZZRAFIQ ALIAS/The Star
Eight onboard including Pahang exco member among fatalities
PETALING JAYA: Ten people, including eight onboard a light aircraft, were killed after it crashed near the Elmina township in Selangor.
Among the dead was first-term Pelangai state assemblyman and Pahang exco member Datuk Seri Johari Harun.
The others were pilots Shahrul Kamal Roslan and Heikal Aras Abdul Azim, and passengers Kharil Azwan Jamaludin, Shaharul Amir Omar, Mohamad Naim Fawwaz Mohamed Muaidi, Muhammad Taufiq Mohd Zaki and Idris Abdol Talib @ Ramali.
A car driver and a motorcyclist were also killed on the ground during the impact.
Selangor police chief Comm Datuk Hussein Omar Khan said the incident occurred at about 2.40pm yesterday.
“The aircraft which took off from Langkawi was cleared to land at the Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah Airport in Subang when it lost communication with the control tower. The aircraft crashed onto the road here and hit a car and motorcycle.
“Based on our checks, at least two crew members and six passengers were on board the flight. They all died at the scene,” he told reporters at the site. “We have yet to establish if there are more people inside the car.”
Several dash cam footage of the plane crash have emerged.
A 19-second video taken from the rear-facing camera of an unknown vehicle has been circulating on social media and WhatsApp.
Four seconds into the video clip, the Beechcraft 390 aircraft is seen in the left hand upper corner. It hits the ground at high speed before bursting into a huge fireball which nearly engulfed the vehicle.
The time stamp on the video shows the incident was recorded at 2.42pm.
Another 20-second video, this time from a forward-facing camera, shows the incident from another angle.
A huge fireball and debris flying all over the road can be seen.
Another footage from a CCTV shows the plane nosediving and directly hitting the ground, before bursting into a huge ball of fire.
It could have been far worse if it had occurred in the morning.
Persiaran Elmina is one of the busiest roads in the township as it feeds into the Guthrie Corridor Expressway.
The crash site is also next to the Elmina Central Park, which is popular with people in the area for recreation and exercise in the early morning.
Pahang state assembly speaker Datuk Seri Mohd Sharkar Shamsudin confirmed Johari’s death on Facebook yesterday. He was 53.
As a new face in the 15th General Election, Johari was fielded as a Barisan Nasional candidate and won the Pelangai state seat in the Bentong parliamentary constituency.
Johari was subsequently appointed as the local government, housing, environment and green technology committee chairman in the Pahang unity government.
Meanwhile in Shah Alam, Yang di-Pertuan Agong Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri’ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah visited the site of the crash.
He arrived at about 5.30pm and was accompanied by the Fire and Rescue Department director-general Datuk Abdul Wahab Mat Yasin, and Comm Hussein.
