Heli crash cuts short daughter’s dream to become doctor, work with mum

Euodia Then Suling

By Shikin Louis

KUCHING, Sept 13: Fifteen-year-old Euodia Then Suling had always looked up to her mother, Debra Moset, so much so that she dreamed of becoming a doctor and one day working alongside her.

That dream was cut short when Debra was killed in the helicopter crash in Long Lellang on Sept 8.

Euodia said her mother had always encouraged her to study hard and pursue her ambitions, while her work as a nurse had inspired her to pursue a career in healthcare.

“She always told me to study hard so I could achieve my dreams. My dream is to become a doctor because I was inspired by her. She was the one I admired so much,” she told the press when met at her residence in Kampung Semadang, Puncak Borneo here today.

The teenager said she and her mother had even planned to work together once they had both started their careers.

“We had planned to work together after we both started working,” she said.

For Euodia, the loss of her mother is made even more painful by the ordinary memories they shared just days before the tragedy.

She recalled her mother returning on Sept 3, when she asked her to prepare her favourite ‘ayam kicap’ (chicken cooked in soy sauce) — a dish she said her mother made better than anyone else.

“I told her, ‘Mami, Kakak wants to eat ayam kicap,’ because her ayam kicap was the best.

“She made it for me. She even sent six pieces of chicken and then cooked it for me. That is the memory I can never forget,” she recalled.

Debra would also regularly prepare curry chicken for Euodia’s younger brother, 12-year-old Eugene Then Kuling, because it was his favourite.

Euodia said Sept 3 was also the last time she saw her mother in person, when Debra returned to Miri before Eugene accompanied her to the airport.

Eugene recalled that his mother did not leave him with any special message before boarding the flight that day, although she did wave goodbye.

Siblings Euodia Then Suling, 15, and Eugene Then Kuling, 12, hold on to each other as they remember their late mother, Debra Moset, who was killed in the helicopter crash on Sept 8, 2026.

For Euodia, however, the final messages exchanged with her mother came on the day of the crash.

At about 2.29pm, she messaged Debra to ask whether she would return for her birthday the following month.

The message was delivered but remained unread.

Euodia then sent another message at 3.27pm — about a minute after the helicopter had crashed.

She never received a reply.

“I was crying because I was sad. I couldn’t believe my mother was gone. I thought she was still alive because people said she had managed to jump,” she said.

Now, the dream she once shared with her mother has taken on a different meaning.

Euodia still wants to become a doctor, but the person she had hoped to work alongside will no longer be there to see it.

The incident occurred on Sept 8 when a BO-105 helicopter carrying five people crashed near the Long Lellang Short Take-Off and Landing (STOL) airport in Marudi.

The remains of all five victims were identified on Sept 9 through DNA analysis as pilot Captain Zainol Afiq Bee Sham, 30; medical officer Dr Ainul Baraah Kamaruddin, 33; medical assistant Alexson Adit Henry, 31; and staff nurses Debra Moset, 40, and Jessie Paya Jok, 44. — DayakDaily