1976 Sabah Air GAF Nomad crash

The Double Six Tragedy (Tragedi Double Six, referring to 6 June, the date of the accident) was an air crash involving a GAF N-22B Nomad of Sabah Air, which took place on 6 June 1976 at Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia, killing several local political leaders, including two top leaders—Tun Fuad Stephens and Datuk Peter Mojuntin.

Background

Tun Fuad Stephens came to power during the 1976 Sabah state elections which were held from 5 April to 14 April 1976. His BERJAYA party won 28 of the 48 seats contested, defeating the previous governing party United Sabah National Organisation (USNO) led by Tun Mustapha. Tun Fuad was sworn in as the 5th chief minister of Sabah on 15 April 1976. On the 53rd day after he won the elections, the aircraft he boarded crashed on the way to Kota Kinabalu Airport.

In the evening of 5 June 1976 (Saturday), Tun Fuad with his brother Benedict Stephens (often known as Ben) and other BERJAYA leaders gathered at Labuan Golf Club to host a post-victory celebration for Tun Fuad's old friend, Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah. Tengku Razaleigh was the federal finance minister and also a chairman of Petronas, a Malaysian oil and gas company. Tun Mustapha, former chief minister of Sabah, had previously refused to sign the 5% oil agreement with Petronas. Tun Fuad, Tengku Razaleigh, and other BERJAYA leaders had a "good chat" until 6:00 am next morning. Then, Tun Fuad and his brother went to Kota Kinabalu in order to flag-off a charity walkathon held in the morning. Datuk Peter Mojuntin, another BERJAYA leader, decided to stay at Labuan in order to officiate at a BERJAYA party branch's victory celebrations.

Tun Fuad met his eldest son Johari Stephens at the walkathon. Tun Fuad insisted that his eldest son Johari should follow him to Labuan in order to visit the official opening of RM 100 million oil refinery. However, Tun Fuad and his son never made the trip to the refinery because of their own busy schedule. Tun Fuad then went back to Labuan Golf Club in order to meet Tengku Razaleigh.

Tun Fuad and Tengku Razaleigh had a lunch at a beach near a village called Layang-Layang. After that, they decided to return to Kota Kinabalu earlier for the preparation of an official banquet at Istana Negeri (State Palace) at night where Tengku Razaleigh and Tun Fuad were to sign the Petronas deal. However, other sources claimed that Tun Fuad disagreed with 10% oil royalty offered by the federal government, instead opting for 20% oil royalty. Conrad Mojuntin, brother of Peter Mojuntin, who was also a former assemblyman for Moyog, claimed that Tun Fuad would never have agreed to the 5%. However, Harris Salleh, in an interview with the Sabah newspaper Daily Express, stated that "Tun Fuad 100 percent supported the arrangement by Parliament. He supported the law, supported the agreement. No difference. He was ready to sign, to cooperate. Because to him, no matter what arrangement you made with the Federal Government, it would be the same thing."

At 3:00 pm, Tun Fuad, Tengku Razaleigh, and other BERJAYA leaders boarded the government-chartered, twin engine, ten-seater Australian Nomad aircraft owned by Sabah Air. Peter Mojuntin was among those aboard. Peter originally planned to board the Malaysia Airlines (MAS) flight back to Kota Kinabalu at 1:30 pm scheduled on the same day. However, Peter was persuaded by Tun Fuad to fly back to Kota Kinabalu with him because Tun Fuad wanted to discuss some matter with Peter on board the flight. Peter also cancelled the MAS flight and declined an invitation to travel in another GAF Nomad aircraft that were seated with another BERJAYA leader Datuk Harris Salleh and Sarawak chief minister Abdul Rahman Ya'kub. In April 2010, Tengku Razaleigh claimed that he was seated behind Tun Fuad while Abdul Rahman Ya'kub was seated on Tengku's right side in the Nomad aircraft when Harris Salleh came in last minute and asked Tengku to exit the aircraft in order to inspect a cattle ranch at Banggi Island. Tengku agreed and he invited Abdul Rahman to follow him. Ishak Atan, the private secretary to Tengku Razaleigh, decided to stay back with Tun Fuad's aircraft because he wanted to prepare the documents for the signing ceremony in Kota Kinabalu. Tun Fuad's aircraft took off first followed by Harris's aircraft. Tun Fuad's aircraft also carried heavy goods from the duty-free port of Labuan such as golf equipment and colour television sets. Nomad aircraft were not fitted with flight data recorders to record all its course changes and altitudes at that time.

However, Tengku Razaleigh gave a different account of the last minute events in the book titled "The Sabahan: The Life and Death of Tun Fuad Stephens" which was published back in 1999. Tengku claimed that he met Harris Salleh at the beach near the Layang-Layang village when the latter asked him to go to Banggi Island to inspect a cattle ranch. Tengku Razaleigh agreed and went to the Labuan airport. Tengku then climbed into the Tun Fuad's aircraft and asked Abdul Rahman to accompany him to Banggi Island.

According to Borneo Bulletin newspaper published on 12 June 1976, Tun Fuad's son, Johari Stephens (a 24-year-old trainee pilot) asked if he could ride the aircraft in the co-pilot seat. The request was granted and the aircraft took off from Labuan. The flight from Labuan to Kota Kinabalu usually takes around 40 minutes. Tun Fuad's aircraft should have landed at 3:30 pm at the Kota Kinabalu Airport. The weather was good and the VIP aircraft should have received immediate clearance for landing. However, the aircraft circled and approached the airport from the north. It was claimed that the ground control tower instructed the aircraft to make another turn because of an inbound Malaysia Airlines Boeing 737 flight to the airport. An airport official claimed that there were conflicting instructions from the ground control tower.

Crash

George Jomiton Mojuntin (October 19, 1932 – March 11, 1983), the eldest son of the Mojuntin family, was one of the eyewitnesses of the crash. He and his friends were playing golf nearby at the Kinabalu Golf Club in Tanjung Aru when the aircraft crashed into the South China Sea while it was trying to land at Kota Kinabalu International Airport. The aircraft's altitude was at 600 feet, flying at 86 knots and approaching the runway from the north when it seemed to stall mid-air with one wing dipping down and the aircraft spiraling one and a half turns into shallow waters just three feet deep. It was 3:41 pm and 27 seconds. The residents of Kampung Sembulan Baru reported that they heard an explosion at about 3:30 pm. On rushing out from their homes, they saw the aircraft broken into two, with the cockpit embedded about three feet into a sandbank. Other parts of the aircraft were embedded in the shallow water while part of it was exposed above water. According to The Far Eastern Economic Review the aircraft had appeared to be veering from side to side before it went into a spiral and crashed.

The aircraft was a total wreck. Blood was seeping from the wrecked aircraft and stained the surrounding water crimson. The crash scene was just 50 feet from the nearest houses of the village of Kampung Sembulan Baru which the aircraft had just flown over and 3 km from the airport. Tun Fuad's brother Ben Stephens and Police Commissioner Yusof Khan were among the earliest to arrive at the scene. The Police Commissioner cut open the aircraft. Among the first items found floating at the crash scene were Tun Fuad's white shoes. Ben Stephens and the Police Commissioner managed to pull out the remains of Corporal Said, Tun Fuad's bodyguard, who had been seated at the back of the aircraft. Police Commissioner Yusof Khan recalled:

All the bodies were converged in the cockpit area except for one that was still strapped into position by a seat belt. The cockpit was buried into the ground. Captain Nathan was found in the pilot's seat while Johari Stephens (Tun Fuad's son) was found in the co-pilot's seat. All the bodies were mutilated beyond recognition except for Peter Mojuntin, whose face remained intact. A severed head was found located at a distance from the body. One eyewitness described the condition of the deceased as "bodies turned to jelly with practically every bone in their bodies broken or smashed".

Firemen were the first to arrive at the scene. Police arrived soon after and sealed off the area. Axes had to be used to cut open the aircraft and 11 bodies were removed. Two revolvers, five watches and RM 6,000 in cash were also recovered.

All the remains were sent to Queen Elizabeth Hospital for reconstruction. Doctors worked for more than 6 hours to stitch up the body parts. Ben Stephens and Tengku Razaleigh then arrived at the mortuary for formal identification of the bodies.