Malaysia grounds Sikorsky choppers

Malaysia grounds Sikorsky choppers

KUALA LUMPUR (AFP): The Malaysian defense ministry yesterday ordered the air force to ground its 31 US-built Sikorsky S-61A-4 helicopters after one of the aircraft crashed late on Wednesday.

The 31 helicopters, which are mainly used for transporting troops, were temporarily grounded pending an inspection of their airworthiness, Defense Minister Syed Hamid Albar was quoted as saying by Bernama news agency.

Sixty people have died in air crashes involving the Sikorsky helicopters, later renamed Nuri, since they were introduced into the Malaysian air force in 1968.

This figure excludes the death toll in Wednesday's incident when a helicopter crashed at sea off northern Penang island while trying to winch up an engineer hurt during an explosion on a ship. Rescuers found two survivors and two bodies near the scene of the crash. Three other people are still missing.