Kuala Lumpur, Sept. 09 (SANA) Five people were killed Tuesday after a BO-105 helicopter operated by the Flying Doctor Service crashed at a remote helipad in Sarawak state in northwest Borneo, Malaysia.
Agence France-Presse quoted Galong Luang, an official with the Malaysian disaster management agency, as saying Wednesday that the helicopter crashed Tuesday afternoon about 315 kilometers southeast of the city of Miri, killing all five people on board.
Local media reported that the victims included a pilot, a doctor, a medical assistant and two nurses.
Footage of the incident posted on social media showed the helicopter emitting smoke shortly before it crashed.
The Flying Doctor Service provides assistance to Indigenous communities in Malaysia that rely heavily on air transportation because of dense forests and difficult terrain in the country’s interior regions.
Medical teams typically travel by helicopter or small aircraft on scheduled flights to visit villages and residential settlements in remote areas.
T.S /Ruaa