KUALA LUMPUR: The government today announced RM10,000 in preliminary assistance for each of the families of the 10 crew members who lost their lives in the Lumut helicopter crash.
Defence Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin said the ministry has also set-up a special fund to enable public donations to further aid the families during these difficult times.
He said these decisions were reached during a Cabinet meeting today.
Khaled also said the Armed Forces would bear all the costs incurred for the flights as well as funeral arrangements for all of the victims.
"The Cabinet today would like to express our condolences to the families of the officers and members over the incident where the two helicopters crashed at the Royal Malaysian Navy base in Lumut on April 23.
"The government would like to also express our sympathy for the loss of 10 national heroes, who dedicated their service until the end of their lives," Khaled said in a statement today.
He added that the Board of Inquiry set-up following the incident had been instructed to submit the preliminary and full reports of its probe into the case within the period of 14 and 30 working days respectively.
Earlier today, unity government spokesman Fahmi Fadzil said an interim report on the incident is expected to be ready in two weeks.
"The Cabinet meeting today extensively discussed yesterday's RMN helicopter incident, and the Defence Minister is committed to providing an interim report within two weeks.
"The full report on the incident on the other hand will be completed within a month," Fahmi said.