KUALA LUMPUR: Kedah Malaysian Civil Defence Force (APM) director Lt Col Awang Askandar Ampuan Yaacub died while on a climbing mission of Mt Everest.
APM chief commissioner Aminurrahim Mohamed confirmed this after receiving notification from the chef de mission of the climbing mission Tan Sri Dr Salleh Mohd Nor.
"May Allah reward his good deeds, grant him the highest level of blessings… and may he be placed among the righteous," Aminurrahim said in a brief statement tonight.
Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Dr Zambry Abdul Kadir confirmed having received news of the death of the Kedah APM director.
"Our Malawakil (representative) in Kathmandu has informed us about the incident.
"I've instructed our Malawakil to monitor closely the process of bringing down the body to the Base Camp as the first step of the operation," he said in a short statement tonight.
Meanwhile, Harian Metro reported that Awang died at 10.30am in Nepal (12.45pm Malaysia time) after falling at an altitude of 8,000 meters above sea level.
Head of the ME 2023 Mission, Azim Afif Ishak, 35, said, at the time of the incident, the deceased along with Muhammad Hawari Hashim, 33, were climbing and only about 20 minutes away from reaching the summit.