‘High time for emergency services to be available round the clock’

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KOTA KINABALU: Emergency situation is not restricted to certain time of the day, says Api-Api assemblywoman Christina Liew in response to Sabah Air Aviation’s recent statement on the Kudat air crash.

Liew said that an emergency situation do not arise only during the daytime but could happen at anytime of the day.

“Does emergency happens during daytime only? What if it happens at night? she asked in response to Sabah Air chief executive officer, Manu Sasidharan, who claimed that one of the Bell206 B3 helicopters returning empty on the day of the air crash was due to it not being an aircraft that was not equipped for nighttime emergencies.

“In far away places like Kudat or beyond, what is the authority going to do to save life if they remain unequipped for night emergency?” she asked in a statement yesterday.

Liew had, on Monday, asked why Sabah Air helicopters are not equipped to respond to night emergencies. She had also asked why the police or army helicopters were not used to airlift the Twin Otter victims from Kudat to the state capital since the Health Department had confirmed that the helicopters operated by Sabah Air were unfit for night duty.

Liew said on the day of the tragic incident, which claimed the life of co-pilot Marc Joel Bansh and a 96-year-old passenger, one of the helicopters returned to Kota Kinabalu empty while other victims were sent by road to hospitals in the state capital. Only co-pilot Marc was flown back to the state capital by a helicopter.

“I was also made to understand that the Emergency Response Procedures (ERP) were not activated by the relevant departments on time.

“The question remains, if the seriously injured victims were unable to be flown at the time as explained by Sabah Air, why not fly the less serious injured victims to Kota Kinabalu hospitals, instead of flying back to the state capital empty. These (less injured) victims had to be transported by vehicles to Kota Kinabalu hospitals,” she said.

In regard to the incident, Liew said, it is time to review and upgrade or improve the aircrafts and helicopters services to be prepared around the clock for any emergency night and day.

“We all look forward for Sabah Air to save lives at whatever time and whenever possible, but not to point fingers now to the Health Department or other authorities for lack of procedural process.

“While I recognise the fact that the medical personnel were doing their best in the incident, that is to save lives, the lack of adequate facilities in bringing the victims back to Kota Kinabalu in a helicopter is questionable. It is high time for the state government to look into this issue,” she said.