A Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF) plane has lost contact with the Kuantan base and is feared to be missing currently.
The Hawk 108 training jet, which departed from the Kuantan air force base at 11am today (Thursday, 15th June), lost contact at 11:30am somewhere in the north of Kuantan, more specifically around the Pahang-Terengganu border.
Royal Malaysian Air Force says a Hawk 108 fighter jet is feared missing around north Kuantan after losing contact at 11.30am pic.twitter.com/gWCBKJlwgL
— Amy Chew (@AmyChewCNA) June 15, 2017
RMAF informed the public of the news via a press statement released at 12:35pm. A search and rescue mission has been launched but news is still scarce as of press time.
The RMAF has 19 Hawk aircraft, with 4 as training aircraft and the remaining ones as combat aircraft. Several Hawk 108 aircraft were also deployed during the 2013 Lahad Datu standoff.
We’ll update the post with more info as soon as we have them.
UPDATE (15th June, 4:45pm):
The 2 RMAF personnel who were on board the Hawk 108 training jet has been found dead. According to The Star Online, their jet crashed 51km from their air base in Kuantan.
The 2 pilots, identified as Yazmi Mohamed Yusof and Mohd Hasri Zahari, were found dead in a swamp near Chukai, Kemaman, Terengganu and around 2.30pm today.
Condolences to their families.
Sources: Twitter, Channel NewsAsia, The Star Online, Malaysiakini.
