SHAH ALAM – The e-hailing driver who died in the Elmina plane incident is believed to have “rejected” a customer’s booking at 2pm yesterday, less than an hour before the crash, said Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Razarudin Husain.
Based on investigations, it was found that the driver had cancelled a booking by a customer, leading police to believe he was alone in the vehicle.
“The car driver rejected the booking by a passenger at 2pm. We suspect the driver was alone, but we will know whether there were others in the car after the DNA tests,” he said.
The search operation, which had commenced at 9am today, was revealed to be at 95% completion, and had covered about 11,000 square metres from the impact.
Razaruddin also said that the plane was not equipped with a flight data recorder (FDR) and only had a cockpit voice recorder (CVR), which is not uncommon for a light aircraft.
He added they have uncovered the remains of 10 bodies – one of which is complete – while 22 DNA samples of the victims’ next-of-kin have been obtained.
The crash yesterday led to 10 casualties, of which six were passengers and two crew on the flight. The remaining two victims were a motorcyclist and a motorist who passed the crash site.
One of the victims was confirmed to be Pelangai assemblyman Datuk Seri Johari Harun.
The plane was en route from Langkawi to Subang, and had been cleared to land at 2.48pm yesterday. – August 18, 2023