KOTA KINABALU, April 26 — Deputy Commander of the Eastern Fleet First Admiral Mohd Norizal Fahruddin and about 1,000 members of the Kota Kinabalu Royal Malaysian Navy (RMN) Base today attended the Yasin recitation and tahlil ceremony and listened to a special sermon in honour of the RMN personnel who lost their lives in the recent helicopter crash in Lumut, Perak.

Congregants began filing the Ibnu Battuta Mosque at the base as early as noon, before the ceremony started at 12.40pm.

The recitation of Yasin and tahlil was led by the Religious Corps Officer of the Armed Forces, Major Mad Zakuan Burhan, who also prayed for those who died in the crash, before the Friday prayers began with the special sermon on the 90th RMN Day read by the Commanding Officer of KD Selangor Capt Ahmad Rashidi Othman.

The text of the special sermon was from the sermon delivered by Navy chief Admiral Tan Sri Abdul Rahman Ayob at the RMN Base in Lumut, Perak, today.

The tragedy at 9.32am on Tuesday (April 23) involving a Maritime Operation Helicopter (HOM-AW139) and a Fennec (M502-6) aircraft during a rehearsal for a fly-past in conjunction with the 90th RMN Anniversary took the lives of 10 RMN personnel.

Four officers of Squadron 503 from the Kota Kinabalu Naval Base including its Commanding Officer, Commander Muhammad Firdaus Ramli, were among those who died. — Bernama