A helicopter belonging to the flying doctor service in Sarawak had a rough landing in a school field in an interior village due to engine failure last month, claimed several villagers.

However eyewitnesses said that no one was injured in the incident.

"We heard two loud bangs while the helicopter was descending and then suddenly there was smoke coming out from its engine.

"The pilot managed to land the chopper in the middle of a school field," said a local native villager who requested anonymity, fearing repercussion from authorities.

"There was fear among the locals that the helicopter could fall on one of the houses or cause injuries to someone on the ground," he added.

NONE The helicopter with its pilot, a medical officer and three villagers were returning to the medical camp after an overnight fishing in the interior, said the villager.

This was independently confirmed by one of the persons in the helicopter.

The source told Malaysiakini that the helicopter was stranded in the village - a Kenyah village called Lio Mato in Ulu Baram - for more than 10 days before it was repaired and flown back to Miri.

He said that the incident happened on Oct 15 and the chopper was only flown off on Oct 28.

"The flying doctor service was affected as a result of this incident. It was irresponsible of the pilot to go fishing at Sungai Buang Jawi in the first place when he was here to fly in medical officers to the village," said the source.

He said that the villagers felt frustrated by the incident because they had been told in the past that there were no helicopters available to evacuate serious health cases from their village to the Miri hospital.

"And here we have an incident of a chopper being used for fishing trips by the pilot and the medical officer. We are not saying that the crash occurred due to the fishing trip but it was clear that it was an abuse of the flying doctor services," he added.

He also said that the helicopter landed right in the middle of the school field and it had to be manually removed a couple of days later for the school's sports event.

He further claimed that the pilot was known for taking off in the helicopter for fishing trips each time the flying doctor team comes visiting Lio Mato.

'No blasts, normal breakdown'

When contacted, Layang Layang Aerospace Sdn Bhd which runs the flying doctor service dismissed all the claims that one of its helicopters had 'crash-landed'.

"The helicopter suffered a minor glitch to one of its gauges. It was a normal breakdown. There were no blasts," said Captain Irwin Matthew, the man in charge of flights.

He said that the helicopter was inspected by Layang Layang engineers and flown out of Lio Mato "in one or two days". "It's back in Miri and is in service now," he added.

Captain Irwin also rejected claims by the villagers that the pilot had taken the chopper for overnight fishing trips.

NONE "Our pilot is an experienced man. He is not a fisherman. He doesn't fish," he said.

Baram member of parliament Jacob Dungau Sagan also confirmed to Malaysiakini that a flying doctor service helicopter had "suffered a technical problem" at Lio Mato.

"But Layang Layang has fixed it and the service is up again," he said.

The villagers, however, insisted they heard two loud bangs and the helicopter had a rough landing, and that it was grounded in their village for almost 10 days.

They also reiterated their claims that the pilot had indeed gone fishing using the helicopter. "Any local will tell you what had actually happened. We are not lying," said the source.

Layang-Layang took over in October

The flying doctor service caters for about 700 people from the Lio Mato village as well as from the nearby villages.

Lio Mato is located along the Baram river, about 50km from the Indonesian border and some eight hours away from Miri. It is accessible only by roads used by timber companies.

The flying doctor service was introduced in 1973 to provide basic health services to people living in remote areas.

The helicopter service is provided by Miri-based Layang Layang Aerospace which was awarded a three-year contract in October. It took over from Hornbill Skyways Sdn Bhd.

Layang Layang Aerospace is believed to have a fleet of five helicopters comprising one Eurocopter AS355 and four Eurocopter BO105 - both models are twin engine rotor aircraft.