“We Were Supposed to Celebrate His 45th Birthday” – RMAF Jet Crash Pilot’s Wife

The aircraft was on a training mission from Subang and was bound for the Butterworth Air Force base. The incident killed the aircraft’s pilot, Major Kayamboo Chellam, and critically injured three other passengers – Lieutenant Hamid Ahmad Hanafi, co-pilot Captain Wai Lik, and Sergeant Mohd Sofi Azizan. Kayamboo’s body and the three other victims were sent to the Seberang Jaya Hospital for post-mortem and treatment.

RMAF has issued a statement following the incident confirming the pilot’s death and three other victims’ injury and said that they “will form an investigating team to probe the cause of the accident.”

A solemn and sombre mood filled the air when family members of the deceased pilot and his wife, S.Usha, 42, who appeared inconsolable upon arriving at the hospital. She kept on screaming “he’s gone” and demanded to see his husband’s body but wasn’t allowed to do so because his body was 80% damaged due to the crash. Our hearts shattered even more after it is learnt that yesterday was Major Kayamboo’s 45^th birthday.

According to Usha, she spoke to her husband a day before the incident until midnight discussing plans about his birthday celebration. She also managed to wish him “happy birthday” yesterday morning before he told her he would be coming home later that night. “We are all sad and devastated when informed about the incident and could not really accept what just happened,” Usha told Astro Awani. She also appears to be distraught thinking how will she be able to break the news to her four children aged between three and 10.