KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 8 (Reuters) – A “flying doctor service” helicopter carrying five people, including medical staff, crashed in Malaysia on Tuesday near an airport on Borneo island, authorities said.
• Officials had yet to confirm any casualties from the crash in Sarawak state. Malaysia’s Health Minister Dzulkefly Ahmad in a statement said initial information showed a pilot and four ministry staff were aboard, among them a medical officer, an assistant medical officer, and two nurses.
• A “flying doctor” service typically uses aircraft to provide medical care, emergency transport and clinical services to rural or isolated regions.
• “As of now, the status of all crew and passengers as well as the cause of the incident have not yet been determined,” Dzulkefly said.
• Search and rescue operations by fire and medical authorities were ongoing, he said.
• Malaysia’s civil aviation authority said it was notified of the incident near Sarawak’s Long Lellang short take-off and landing airport late afternoon local time and the transport ministry’s air accident investigations bureau was investigating.
(Reporting by Rozanna Latiff and Mandy Leong Huey Mun; Editing by Martin Petty)
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