Al-Fatihah

His Majesty, the Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of BruneiDarussalam and the Supreme Commander of the Royal Brunei Armed Forces and Minister of Defence, paid a visit to the survivors of the helicopter incident last evening. Image courtesy of The Brunei Times.

I’m still over this sad news that my relatives and friends were involved in the helicopter incident last night. I’ve been hearing different information from time to time but I wasn’t able to get the right information too. We all always hope for the best news and it was such a tragedy this thing happened.

According to the press release from The Brunei Times, 10 out of 14 military personnel were reported to have been killed in a tragic helicopter accident in Belait yesterday afternoon. I’m not sure how it all happened but one of the helicopter Bell 212 of Royal Brunei Air Force crashed. I won’t go too much into details. If you want to read more info, you can click [here] and [here].

Today I want to dedicated this post to the late Captain Mohd Ismail bin Dato Sei Setia Hj Samid (JJ Samid) and Farhana Hj Zaidin who were among the deceased from the helicopter crash. My heart goes to the families of JJ and Farhana with deepest condolences and they are in a better place right now. Our prayers for you. Al-Fatihah.

JJ is a relative of mine and the highlight of our friendship was back in the early 2000s where we cooked his speciality – nasi goreng corn beef – during Ramadhan and donated the food to the mosque. That memory keeps lingering in my head whenever I bumped into him in public and that memory will still play in my head from time to time. I miss you, bro, and your kindest heart. Al-Fatihah.

A hero. A soldier. A loving husband and father. An awesome lad.

This was the final picture of JJ Samid and the rest before they took off on the Bell 212. His best friend Farisan Metassan (center) posted this picture on Facebook.