Witness assumes helicopters conducting aerial survey

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 8 -- “I thought two helicopters were conducting an air survey by flying close together before one of the aircraft rammed the other’s rear end,’’ narrated a witness who saw the mishap in Taman Melawati this morning.

The witness, Puteri Nur Ilani Ismail, 25, said at that time she was looking for herbal leaves for cooking, 500 metres from where on of the helicopters crashed.

’’I was at the Bukit Mas Roundabout, here, at about 11.30 am and heard the beat of the rotors of helicopters in flight.

“Suddenly, I saw a red helicopter ramming the tail end of a blue helicopter which broke off,’’ she told Bernama when met.

She saw the blue helicopter staggered as if incapable of flight before it plunged towards the ground and crashed.

"The red helicopter slowly descended and landed nearby,’’ said Putri Nur Ilani who stayed in the nearby area.

Another witness, Muhammad Taufik Rosli, 24, from Jalan M4, Taman Melawati said he heard a loud crash at about 11.40 am.

Commenting further, he said initially he thought it was a car accident and was shocked when he left the house and found that it was actually a helicopter that had crashed.

According to Muhammad Taufik Rosli, the area (Taman Melawati) was often the focus of helicopters conducting aerial surveys for search and rescues of climbers who fell at Bukit Tabur prior to this.

In the incident at 12 noon, two men were confirmed dead in the mishap involving two helicopters which were suspected to have collided in the air before one of them crashed in Taman Melawati, Ampang, near here.

-- BERNAMA