PRIOR to yesterday, the country's deadliest aviation crash occurred 37 years ago in a mangrove forest at the coastal town of Tanjung Kupang, about 40km from here.
Ninety-three passengers and seven crew members died on board the hijacked Malaysia Airlines (MAS) flight MH653 on the fateful night of Dec 4, 1977.
Though the actual cause of the crash remains a mystery, investigations and information retrieved from the flight's communications with air traffic controllers revealed there was a hijacker on board the Boeing 737-2H6 aircraft.
On that fateful night, Flight MH653 took off from Bayan Lepas Airport in Penang at 7.21pm bound for Kuala Lumpur and Singapore, with 93 passengers and seven crew on board.
At 7.47pm, the aircraft flew over Batu Arang, Selangor, and had begun its descent to Subang Airport (now Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah airport). The investigation revealed that it was during this point that pilot Captain G.K. Ganjoor informed the Subang air control tower: "We have an emergency on board." When the tower sought clarification, Ganjoor said: "We have a hijacker on board."
Paya Lebar control tower in Singapore was later advised that the plane was heading its way, and clearance was given by the authorities for the jet to descend.
Ganjoor apparently made radio contact with Paya Lebar and was advised by the tower to expect approach at 8.45pm. This final communication was not acknowledged by Ganjoor, and soon after, the plane went off the radar screen.
All efforts to re-establish radio contact failed. Later, an air crash was reported in Tanjung Kupang in southwest Johor. The aircraft crashed about 8.20pm.
Villagers from nearby Kampung Tanjung Kupang recalled the crash as apocalyptic as they saw the aircraft hovering low before crashing into a nearby mangrove swamp and bursting into flames.
Most of the villagers said the force of the crash was akin to an earthquake, while others saw clothing, human flesh and metal parts raining from the sky while rescuers recalled the horror of the crash site as scraps of clothing, human flesh and skin were found strewn all over the crash site.
Flight MH2133 had departed Kota Kinabalu and arrived in Tawau about 1.05pm on that day. Survivors had said that the aircraft had approached Tawau Airport, but it aborted the landing and overshot the runway and burst into flames after it hit the parameter fencing before crashing into a cluster of squatter houses.
On Oct 10 last year, two people, co-pilot Marc Joel Bansh, 23, and passenger Tan Ah Chai, 96, were killed when a MASwings DHC-6 Twin Otter flight from Kota Kinabalu to Kudat crashed into a house, after landing short of the runway.
Another near-tragic crash occured on Dec 18, 1983, when a MAS Airbus with 247 people onboard crash-landed during a thunderstorm in Kampung Melayu, Subang, 1km short of the airport's runway.
The 247 crew and passengers survived after they escaped moments before the plane exploded.
