Family of helicopter crash victim learnt of incident via WhatsApp

KUALA LUMPUR : The family of one of the victims of the helicopter crash in Taman Melawati, Ampang, Mohd Irfan Fikri Mohamed Rawi, 41, found out about the tragic incident via a message posted in a Whatsapp chat group.

The victim's eldest brother, Dr Mohd Izani Mohd Rawi, said he contacted the sender of the message today after recognising the victim’s hand and his watch from a picture of the incident shared in the message.

Mohd Irfan Fikri was the fourth child of ten siblings.

"My parents are aware of this incident and my two younger siblings are on their way. So far we do not know whether (the body) will be sent here or not, there is no official information yet," he told reporters when met in front of the National Forensic Medicine Institute (IPFN) at the Kuala Lumpur Hospital, here, today.

Today, two men were killed in an accident involving two helicopters believed to have collided mid-air before one of them crashed at around noon in Taman Melawati, Ampang near here.

Besides Mohd Irfan, who is from Kota Bharu, Kelantan, the other victim was identified as Mohamed Sabri Baharom, 56, of Wangsa Melawati, here.

Recalling the past, Mohd Izani said Mohd Irfan Fikri, who had a deep interest in the aviation field, obtained a flying licence several years ago that also led him to venture into a business in the industry.

“He would fly almost every week but before he flies off the family would be informed.

“He also had a remote sensing and simulator business,” he said when met at the Emergency Department of the Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Medical Centre (PPUKM) here today.

Mohd Izani said post-mortem and the process of identifying the body would only be conducted tomorrow after obtaining the COVID-19 screening test results.

This was confirmed by Ampang Jaya district police chief, ACP Mohamad Farouk Eshaa, when contacted.

The remains of the two victims were brought to the Emergency Department of PPUKM for post mortems.

-- BERNAMA