Kuala Lampur: A light plane crashed into a street in Malaysia’s central Selangor state on Thursday, killing eight people on board and two motorists on the ground, the local police chief said.
“For now, I can say at least 10 people were killed in the plane crash. Two passing motorists — one in a car and one on a motorcycle — also perished together with the eight on board the plane,” Mohamad Iqbal Ibrahim told AFP.
Johari Harun, a state assemblyman in central Pahang state in charge of housing and the environment, was among the plane passengers killed, police said.
Malaysia’s civil aviation authority said in a statement that six passengers and two flight crew were on board the aircraft when it crashed, although it did not confirm any casualties.
The plane took off from the northern resort island of Langkawi and was heading to Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah Airport, west of the capital Kuala Lumpur, civil aviation authority chief Norazman Mahmud.
“No mayday call was made,” he said. An investigation into the crash will be made by the Air Accident Investigation Bureau, he said.
Mohamad Syahmie Mohamad Hashim, a former member of the Malaysian air force, said he saw the plane flying erratically. “Not long after that I heard a loud boom,” he told reporters.
“I sped towards the location and saw the remains of an aircraft. I also saw (a) human body on fire. I couldn’t do anything,” he said.
Other witnesses said the Beechcraft Model 390 burst into flames as it hit the ground in Elmina Estate near the suburb of Shah Alam, which houses a mix of residential homes and factories.
An explosion was also heard, they said.
One user of X, formerly called Twitter, shared a brief video showing fire and black smoke billowing from the crash site, which was covered with dark soot. Debris was scattered around and houses could be seen in the background.
In September 1977, a Japan Airlines plane bound for Singapore crashed into another housing estate. Forty-five people survived and 34 were killed.