6 die of drug abuse at concert

6 die of drug abuse at concert

6 die of drug abuse at concert

Posted: 15 Mar 2014 09:01 AM PDT

16 March 2014| last updated at 11:58PM
By KALBANA PERIMBANAYAGAM AND HANA NAZ HARUN | news@nst.com.my

KUALA LUMPUR: SIX people died  overdosing on drugs taken  at the Future Music Festival Asia (FMFA) 2014 in Bukit Jalil Stadium while three others are in critical condition.

City police chief Senior Deputy Commissioner Datuk Mohmad Salleh said the nine, aged 21 to 28, collapsed about 1.30am yesterday during Friday's event, which continued into the wee hours, after consuming drugs.

One person died at the scene while the other five died on the way to University of Malaya Medical Centre and Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Medical Centre.

The three in critical condition include two Singaporeans.

Mohmad said police arrested 19 party-goers, including 12 foreigners, for possession of drugs throughout the two days of the concert.

"Investigations showed they obtained the drugs from locations outside of the concert venue," he said at a press conference in Cheras yesterday.

FMFA was scheduled for three days but organisers decided to call it off yesterday following police advice after the deaths.

"We will leave it to the organisers to resolve matters pertaining to concert tickets," Mohmad said.

In a statement posted on the FMFA Facebook page, organisers refuted claims that there were five deaths on the festival grounds on Friday, the second day of the festival.

"As of 5pm of March 15 we can confirm that one death, and not five, took place on festival grounds," it read.

Organisers said a police report had been lodged and they were working closely with the authorities in determining the cause of the incident.

The statement also stated that FMFA had regular meetings with all agencies involved in the festival including the Police, the Fire and Rescue Department, Bukit Jalil National Stadium, Millennium Patriot Security, Rela, and the event's on-site medical doctor and paramedics, prior and during the event.

"In the interest of public safety we have heeded the authority's advice to not proceed with Day-3 of festival. We appreciate the understanding of all parties and will share updates on this matter as soon as possible."

Cheras police chief Assistant Commissioner Mohan Singh Tara Singh said the situation was under control at Bukit Jalil Stadium, following the cancellation of the music festival with the crowd dispersing peacefully.

"The organisers had put up clear signs about the cancellation, and even though many who turned up were frustrated, they left after they were promised a refund on their tickets."

Mohan said some 80 officers from the district police headquarters were deployed at the stadium grounds, to prevent untoward incidents.

"Fortunately, the festival-goers were cooperative and all dispersed about 9pm."

Concert-goers milling about at the cancelled Future Music Festival Asia in Bukit Jalil Stadium yesterday. The crowd dispersed by 9pm. Pic by Adi Safri

'Difficulty is universal'

Posted: 15 Mar 2014 09:00 AM PDT

16 March 2014| last updated at 12:02AM

KUALA LUMPUR: For the last few days, a group of men and women have been straining their eyes to detect any signs of the missing flight MH370 at the Malaysian Remote Sensing Agency (ARSM).

The agency, which most times would deal with satellite images related to forestry and fisheries among others,  has put its  work aside to focus on the search for the missing plane.

They had  been hunching over their computer screens ever since the plane was lost. To date, they had scanned hundreds of thousands of kilometres of open sea and sifted through countless gigabytes worth of imagery data.

"It's not easy," said the agency's director-general, Datuk Darus Ahmad.

"If the plane has broken up, then it would be hard to identify. Only if it's in one piece, would it be easily recognisable,

"We get our images from the SPOT-6, Radarsat-2 and Landsat-8 satellites."

The Spot-6 satellite has the highest resolution of 1.5-metre resolution. It is still a far cry from images found  in Google Earth.

  In some urban areas for example -- it had a resolution as high as 0.1m.

However, Google Earth images are  not relevant  for the search because the majority  of their images are weeks or months old.  

Up to now, the agency   detected two suspicious-looking objects. These  objects, measuring 27 metres, by 30 metres and 70 metres by 40 metres had  been forwarded to the search and rescue (SAR) operation currently led by the Transport Ministry.

The ARSM team were  trained to identify objects, such as  boats,  in the ocean.

Despite this, it is an uphill task to identify anything resembling a plane.

"The difficulty is universal," said Darus.

The satellite images were received directly at the Temerloh ground station as well as from the satellite providers via File Transfer Protocol.

Once the images were  downloaded from the satellites and reached the ARSM offices, the painstaking work of finding any object that may resemble  aircraft debris begins.

The ARSM currently has 10 people scrutinising the maps, including  Darus  himself.

The team had covered 123,000km of the South China Sea and also covered an additional 185km by 185km swath of land area all the way to the Temenggor Dam.

On Thursday night, the agency received an additional 20GB of data representing some 100,000 km of new search area -- to reflect the new information  the SAR team had received.

All three satellites orbit on a polar orbit, which meant  they crossed over or near the Earth's  poles.

Currently, the Spot-6 satellite  would  provide images once every day between March 10 and March 14, While, the Radarsat and Landsat-8 satellites would  provide images once every three days and once every 16 days, respectively.

Darus said the close relationship that the agency  had with the satellite providers in the past had enabled them to procure the images.

Nation relies on foreign satellites

Posted: 15 Mar 2014 09:00 AM PDT

16 March 2014| last updated at 12:06AM

The last imaging satellite that Malaysia sent into space, RazakSAT malfunctioned after a year.  Last year, a Bernama report carried in Berita Harian stated that RazakSAT-2, another satellite being built would be launched in 2015.

RazakSAT, Malaysia's second remote-sensing satellite, was launched into space on July 2009 from Kwajalein Atoll in the Pacific Ocean's Marshall Islands. The 180kg satellite was positioned in Near Equatorial Orbit and it was the world's first remote-sensing satellite launched into that altitude.


Related Articles

Anifah refutes media allegation

Posted: 15 Mar 2014 09:00 AM PDT

16 March 2014| last updated at 12:07AM

Foreign Affairs Minister Datuk Seri Anifah Aman said the China Working Group had a meeting with the Malaysian ambassador to China, Datuk Iskandar Saruddin on March 13.

The Chinese government was led by Liu Zhi, the deputy director-general of Beijing local authority.

  "During the meeting, Liu told Iskandar  that for security purposes, he was advised to be absent from the briefing with the passengers' families.

"Iskandar would only be present if there was important information to be announced,"  Anifah said in a statement, here  yesterday.

"The decision, as stated by Liu was to avoid any uncontrolled action by the passengers families against the embassy officials, including the ambassador." Bernama


Related Articles

Rosmah: Tell kids not to speculate

Posted: 15 Mar 2014 09:00 AM PDT

16 March 2014| last updated at 12:06AM

The prime minister's wife said this was imperative as such speculation on the social media  sites or other medium was unhealthy.

"What is most important is that parents at home should advise their children against speculating because it is unhealthy for the country, under the current circumstances, as the families of the aircraft passengers are sad and broken-hearted.

"Rightly, we should also empathise with them, delve into their feelings and continue to pray that the aircraft is promptly located," she said.   

  Rosmah said this  on the Apa Kata Wanita (What Women Say) programme aired by Radio Televisyen Malaysia here yesterday.

Rosmah also called on all Malaysians to be united and pray for the search-and rescue operation to be successful.

"Let us be united and continue to pray for the safety and well-being of the passengers."  Benama

Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor (left) with host Zamzarina Zamri in the Apa Kata Wanita talk show. Bernama pic

'Cockpit not locked all the time'

Posted: 15 Mar 2014 09:00 AM PDT

16 March 2014| last updated at 12:25AM

   KUALA LUMPUR: CAN an airliner's reinforced and bullet-resistant, locked cockpit door be breached by skyjackers?

The cockpit door cannot be locked for the entire duration of a flight, said aviation experts, including cockpit and cabin crew.

All it takes is just seconds for a hijacker or person with ill intentions, either seated or standing close to the cockpit, to rush forward before the door is shut.

One of them said the door had to be opened at some time of the flight by the cockpit crew -- the captain, co-pilot or support personnel.

"This will happen when one of the cockpit crew members excuses himself to visit the restroom (outside the cockpit) or needs to take a walkabout in the jetliner's cabin to inspect something during a technical fault, or just for an 'ease of mind' walk during a long flight. Or this can happen when a flight attendant serves the cockpit crew their beverages or meals," he said.

Another expert said at that point, all a perpetrator needed to do was rush forward and overpower the pilot to gain access into the cockpit.

"Alternately, the culprit can place a sharp object (like a meal knife) against a flight attendant or passenger and threaten to cause harm, unless he sees the pilot," she said.

Such a scenario was thought possible as it was believed that potential culprits would be brazen without air marshals on board Malaysia Airlines flights.

"Once inside the cockpit, they could seal off all hopes of regaining control of the aircraft. The culprits can order the pilot, under threat, to steer the aircraft to their intended destination.

"Flight-conversant hijackers can also take control of the aircraft and fly it without being detected. This can be done after they disable all communications equipment, radio, transponder and text messaging Controller-Pilot Data Link Communication system by disengaging the circuit breakers," said another expert.

Aviation flight safety, aircraft manufacturers and enforcement officials are believed to be racing against time to push for the installation of secondary barriers, given the vulnerability during this transition period -- the opening and closing of the cockpit door during a flight.

"These are retractable, fence-like devices erected between the cockpit and cabin.

"We are also looking at more comprehensive, industry-wide security procedures for jetliners, such as improved screening technologies, making it mandatory to have air marshals and providing self-defence training for crew," said one of them.

Although such barriers are not impenetrable, aviators feel they can delay an attempted penetration.

"We have had countless discussions on this matter following 9/11 (the terror attack using hijacked aircraft on the United States on Sept 11, 2001). While more stringent procedures have been recommended, like opening and closing the cockpit door within five seconds and minimising the frequency, there are lapses," he said, adding that cockpit visits by non-crew or unauthorised persons were no longer allowed.

Another flight commander likened the scenario during medieval times when the castle was considered secure until the drawbridge was opened.

Without a moat or some other security barrier, the castle was vulnerable whenever the main gate is opened, he said.