The Double Six Tragedy, also known as the Double Six Crash, was a plane crash which took place on June 6, 1976 in Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia. The plane, operated by Sabah Air, coming from Labuan crashed in the sub-district of Sembulan in Kota Kinabalu upon approaching Kota Kinabalu International Airport. The crash killed everyone on board the flight, including Tun Fuad Stephens, the Chief Minister of Sabah at that time.
The other passengers on the flight were State Ministers Datuk Salleh Sulong, Datuk Peter Mojuntin, Chong Thien Vun, and assistant minister Darius Binion. Others who perished were the then Secretary of State for the Ministry of Finance of Sabah Datuk Wahid Peter Andau, Director of Economic Planning Unit of Sabah Dr. Syed Hussein Wafa, Isak Atan (Private Secretary to Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah), Corporal Said Mohammad (bodyguard to Tun Fuad Stephens), Captain Gandhi Nathan (the pilot of the aircraft) and Tun Fuad's eldest son Johari Stephens.
The reason behind the crash is uncertain. Immediately after the accident there were allegations of foul play due to the political circumstances at the time. The Australian government sent a team of four investigators to assist in finding the cause of the accident. Mechanical failure was ruled out, and preliminary investigations indicated overloading was one of the contributing factors. The real reason for the crash remains a mystery, and the original report on the incident remains classified.
In the afternoon following the accident, Deputy Chief Minister Harris Salleh was sworn in as the sixth Chief Minister of Sabah.
The aircraft was an Australian designed and built Nomad. Tragedy happened at 3:50PM and crashed was in Sembulan, Kota - Kinabalu.
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