PETALING JAYA: Many questions remain unanswered for Sabahans over the tragic 1976 “Double Six” plane crash, said Sabah deputy chief minister Jeffrey Kitingan.
Kitingan said these questions would persist as long as the whereabouts of the aircraft’s black box remained unknown, according to Utusan Borneo.
He said the ill-fated plane would have had a black box as every plane was required to be equipped with one, and could provide crucial information about the crash.
“But where is the black box and why can’t it be located until now? Has the black box gone missing or has it been deliberately removed?
“Everything can be answered if the contents of the black box are revealed,” he said after attending the commemoration of the 47th anniversary of the tragedy at the Double Six monument in Sembulan, Kota Kinabalu, today.
Kitingan also said the state government would extend its support to the families of victims if they were to push for further probes into the incident.
“I hope everything will be resolved completely. I don’t believe that the black box cannot be found,” he said.
The tragedy on June 6, 1976 claimed the lives of then Sabah chief minister Fuad Stephens, state ministers Salleh Sulong, Chong Thien Vun and Peter Mojuntin, as well as seven others, after the GAF Nomad aircraft they were in crashed in Sembulan, Kota Kinabalu.
Investigations were launched by Malaysian authorities, GAF and the Australian department of transport, but their findings were not made public until this April.
The Malaysian authorities’ report said there was no evidence of sabotage, fire or an explosion in the crash.
The Australian report on the crash, also released in April, found that Sabah Air was operating illegally at the time of the incident.
The report said Sabah Air had submitted a draft of its operations manual towards the end of 1975, but the document was never approved by the then civil aviation department, a federal authority. - FMT
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