KLANG, Aug 18 — “Soon Kak Chik, I’ll be back...”
Those were the last words of Sharipuddin Shaari, 53, who was killed in the Beechcraft Model 390 (Premier 1) aircraft crash incident on the Guthrie Highway near Bandar Elmina, Shah Alam, yesterday.
The victim’s sister, Ramlah Shaari, 56, when sharing her final conversation with her brother said Sharipuddin had planned to return to their hometown in Arau, Perlis to visit their mother, Hatun Bakar, 81.
Unable to hold back tears, Ramlah said the last time Sharipuddin, who was an e-hailing driver, spoke to her was two weeks ago.
“Two weeks ago I called him and told him that our mother misses him, but he replied that he didn’t have time to come back. We were expecting them (Sharipuddin and his family) to come back during the coming school holidays,” she said when met at the premises of the Tengku Ampuan Rahimah Hospital’s (HTAR) Forensic Department here, tonight.
Ramlah said that Sharipuddin, the third of four siblings, was very close to his mother because they lived in the same house in Kampung Rani Estate, Arau, before he moved to Sepang, Selangor.
She said her younger brother, a retired army officer, moved to Sepang with his wife and two children aged 16 and eight.
“We got the news about this incident during Maghrib yesterday and we didn’t tell our mother because she has a heart disease.
“We all left Arau early today and only when we arrived in Klang at about 2pm that we told my mother about the incident, she was very sad because she missed Sharipuddin very much,” she said.
Ramlah said, her younger brother was a hard worker and well-liked, as he often helped those in need.
She said the family was still discussing Sharipuddin’s burial process following the post-mortem.
Meanwhile, the victim’s friend who is also Pauh (Perlis) assemblyman, Megat Hashirat Hassan when met at the HTAR Forensic Department said that Sharipuddin had contacted him three days before the incident.
“He contacted me and we had a long chat. He is one of my friends and strong supporters who helped a lot during the campaign when I was a candidate in the last general election. He was a very good friend. I was shocked and sad when I got the news of his death... he just moved to Selangor,” he said.
Megat, who is also a Perlis executive council member said the state government also expressed its condolences to Sharipuddin’s family and was ready to extend whatever help required to the victim’s family.
Sharipuddin’s cousin, Maznah Abdullah said the last time she met the deceased was about five months ago when he returned to celebrate Aidilfitri with his family at Kampung Rani Estate, here.
Maznah, 68, said the deceased was a hard worker and had two children, namely Muhammad Sharul and Nur Izzara Arissya.
“Our family got this sad news at about 8pm on the day of the incident (Thursday). My heart continues to ache he was very close to the family,” she told Bernama.
At 2.48pm yesterday, a private plane carrying two crew and six passengers crashed in Elmina Shah Alam, also killing two road users — an e-hailing driver and a p-hailing rider. — Bernama
