Food stall owner recalls explosions followed by fire after RMAF jet accident

A witness of the accident involving a Royal Malaysian Air Force fighter jet at the RMAF Butterworth Air Base says she heard two loud explosions moments before seeing flames shoot up into the air at the runway of the base.

“When the accident occurred around 10pm, I heard loud explosions… twice followed by a blaze after the plane crashed,” Mastura Mohammad Nordin, 44, who owns an eatery at Kampung Benggali, Sungai Puyu, told reporters.

She said after witnessing the incident, she and three of her workers along with several customers rushed from her stall, located some 100m away from the base, to the perimeter fence to get a clearer view of the incident and saw what looked like a fire on the base runway.

“After the crash, we rushed to the fence and saw a blaze. We hoped that nothing serious had befallen the pilot or any bystanders,” she added.

An RMAF pilot was killed while another was injured when their Hawk fighter jet was involved in an accident at around 10.07pm while on night flight training.

RMAF issued a statement identifying the pilots as Capt Mohamad Affendi Bustamy and Major Mohd Fareez Omar.

According to the statement, Affendi was killed in the accident while Fareez, who sustained injuries, is reported to be in stable condition and is being treated at the Seberang Jaya Hospital.

Checks by Bernama at the Seberang Jaya Hospital showed that RMAF personnel and the police had arrived at 1am at the hospital grounds to manage the funeral arrangements of the pilot killed in the accident.

Deputy Chief of Air Force Lt Gen Asghar Khan Goriman Khan was among those at the Forensics Department waiting for the body of Affendi, which arrived at around 2am.

It is understood that the hospital will be conducting a post-mortem on the pilot’s remains this morning.