Co-pilot just obtained licence six months ago

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Marc Joel Bansh

KOTA KINABALU: The co-pilot who died along with a passenger in the MASwings’ plane crash in Kudat on Thursday evening had just obtained his flying licence about six months ago.

In his last posting on Facebook on October 9, Marc Joel Bansh, 23, had indicated a “storm coming” with a photo showing dark clouds as he was taking off on the Twin-Otter flight from Lawas.

The second child of four siblings, who was flown in critical condition from the district to the state capital on the same day, was pronounced dead at around 9pm.

One of the 14 passengers, Tan Ah Chai, 96, had died earlier, about two hours after the crash around 2.50pm on Thursday.

Four others, including the pilot, are reported to be seriously injured while 10 others escaped with minor injuries.

MASwings officials however declined to comment if the bad weather was one of the contributing factors to the crash.

A requiem mass will be held for Bansh on Monday (October 14) at Stella Maris Catholic Church in Tanjung Aru, which he and his family frequents, starting at 9am, before he is laid rest.

Tan, who hailed from Selangor, was on the plane with his son, Tan Kang Cheing, who escaped with minor injuries.

It was learnt that the duo were en route to Sandakan from the state capital.

According to Kudat District Police chief DSP Dawi Ossen, MASwings had taken over the responsibility to inform family members of the victims.

He said that to date, all five crash victims who were warded at Kudat District Hospital have been discharged. A hospital source disclosed that three were released at around 9am while another two at around 5pm.

Four others are still warded at Queen Elizabeth Hospital 2, here.

On the social network Facebook, many expressed their condolences to family members of the deceased, and described the incident as a tragedy.

This is the first incident involving MASwings’ Twin-Otter aircraft since it began servicing the route six years ago. MASwings operates the KK-Kudat-Sandakan services on Mondays and Thursdays.

In 1995, Sabah recorded one of the worst plane crashes in Tawau which claimed the lives of 34 people, including the two pilots, and injured 19 others.

The Flight MH2133 Fokker 50 aircraft, belonging to Malaysia Airlines, had departed the state capital but touched down some 500 metres short from the end of the Tawau Airport runway. While attempting to carry out a go-around, the aircraft crashed into the squatter colony of Kampung Seri Menanti nearby the airport.

Officials said no one in the squatter colony was killed in the crash and explosion.