IPOH: The teenage daughter of Commander Muhamad Amir Mohamad said she was attending a pastry class at school when told that her father had perished in a helicopter crash yesterday (Apr 23) morning.
Nuraina Farhana, 16, who lives in the dormitory at Kuala Kangsar Vocational School, said she received the tragic news from a teacher while she was baking in the workshop yesterday.
“The last time I saw my father was on Sunday but nothing much stood out, everything was as usual,” said the crestfallen teenager at the Forensic Department of the Raja Permaisuri Bainun Hospital here yesterday.
Asked about the nature of her father, she described him as a man of few words but who always met the needs and requests of his children.
She will have a big shoe to fill as the next bread-winner in the family as her mind flickers back to her fondest moments with her military father.
“The memory I will cherish most is that my dad always took me to play futsal when I was a child,” she said, adding that her father will be buried at Kampung Sitiawan today after the post-mortem procedures are completed.
Muhamad Amir, who was the Commanding Officer of Squadron 502, leaves behind wife Marliati Basri, 40, and three children namely Nuraina who is the eldest, a 13-year-old daughter and a 4-year-old son.
He was among 10 Navy personnel who died when two helicopters collided and crashed at the TLDM Base in Lumut, Perak at 9.32 am yesterday.
Meanwhile, in Manjung, M. Sivanesan, 23, the cousin of a navy personnel who died in the helicopter collision in Lumut found himself quaking when the tragic news about Lt. T. Sivasutan’s death hit home.
Sivanesan said he was working in Manjung before the news of the crash came in snatches at 10.30 am through information and pictures and a viral video on social media.
He was initially worried about the status of his brother who is also with TLDM and one of the pilots, quickly contacted his mother for confirmation.
However, despite being relieved that his brother was not involved, Sivanesan said he was heartbroken when his mother confirmed that his cousin Sivasutan, 31, was among the victims.
“When I heard this, my body was shaking. It’s really sad because he always came to my house,” he said at the home of the late Sivasutan’s parents in Sitiawan last night.
“I used to like uniformed units, but over time, I liked tourism more. He always said that if you aim for something, work hard until you get it and finally I managed to get a diploma in tourism management,” he said.
Sivanesan said the parents of the late Sivasutan, R. Paramesvary, 60, and father M. Thanjappan, 61, were still in tears.
According to Sivanesan, the wife of Sivasutan, Tharshini, 31, is a dentist, while his younger sister and older sister are currently at the Raja Permaisuri Bainun Hospital for the post-mortem report before taking the body of Sivasutan home for prayers and finally to Sitiawan for cremation. – BERNAMA
