KUALA LUMPUR, July 19 – The Boeing 777 plane which crashed in Ukraine yesterday, marks another tragedy for Malaysia Airlines (MAS) this year, more than four months after MAS Flight MH370 vanished on March 8.
On that ill-fated day, Flight MH370 with 227 passengers and 12 crew, disappeared at 12.41am, about an hour after taking off from the KL International Airport while on its way to Beijing.
Besides these two incidents, MAS was also involved in several other air incidences since it was formed in 1947 as Malayan Airways. The following are the cases involving the airline:
* Tanjung Kupang air tragedy – On Dec 4, 1977, MH653 from Penang to Kuala Lumpur crashed in Tanjung Kupang, Johor, killing 100 people, in what was
described as the country’s first flight hostage-taking incident.
The flight was said to have been taken over by unknown individuals who forced the pilot to change course to Singapore before shooting dead the pilot, causing the plane to go out of control. The case has not been solved till today. The incident led to the formation of the Aviation Security Unit.
* Tawau air tragedy – On Sept 15, 1995, 34 of the 53 passengers on board Flight MH2133 from Kota Kinabalu to Tawau, Sabah died when the plane overshot the runway. Investigations into the incident revealed it was due to pilot error in failing to follow standard operating procedures and the co-pilot’s failure in
taking over the flight.
Other factors which contributed to the incident included failure of the air traffic control to provide good service that day. In the latest incident, Flight MH17 crashed yesterday, believed to have been shot down while traveling from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, while carrying 298 people – 283 passengers and 15 crew.
– BERNAMA
