The 12 helicopters and one executive jet belonging to the Sarawak government-owned Hornbill Skyways should have been grounded immediately after the July 12 crash, said a leading member of the Sidang Ingil Borneo (SIB).

Commenting on the latest crash involving the company's helicopter last week, SIB general council member Freddie Acho Bian said such a move would have prevented further loss of lives.

The July12 crash left seven dead, including state assistant minister Dr Judson Tagal, who was an SIB member. Last Friday's crash killed four people.

Both crashes involved Bell 206 helicopters and the Transport Ministry, after the second incident, immediately called for the grounding of Hornbill Skyways' entire fleet and ordered a probe.

Last July, another Hornbill-owned helicopter went down, killing among others, the head of SIB Reverend Kalip Basar.

SIB, a Christian missionary movement formerly known in Sarawak as the Borneo Evangelical Mission (BEM) has more than 600 churches in Sarawak alone and more than 120,000 members. It also has churches in Sabah and Peninsular Malaysia.

Reveal causes

"To the best of our knowledge, detailed reports on the investigations relating to the two earlier crashes have not been completed yet," said Freddie.

He added that the Department of Civil Aviation and the Transport Ministry have a duty to tell Sarawakians the causes and actions being taken to prevent such mishaps in future.

The frequent crashes have angered certain quarters, who called on Hornbill Skyways managing director Aidan Wing to take responsibility and resign.

Aidan, who is also a Parti Pesaka Bumiputra Bersatu Sarawak (PBB) state assemblyperson, could not be reached for comment.

State Secretary Aziz Hussein confirmed that the company has suspended its services pending investigations into the latest crash.

However, he insisted that Hornbill Skyways kept its helicopters well maintained and that they never exceeded the flying time.