By P Prem Kumar
KUALA LUMPUR (AA) – Malaysian authorities confirmed Friday that a helicopter carrying two federal lawmakers — including a deputy minister — has crashed in a densely forested area of eastern Sarawak state.
Prime Minister Najib Razak told a packed press conference in the state capital, Kuching, that, “search and rescue operations were commenced immediately after a report on the missing chopper was lodged” late Thursday.
“At the moment we cannot make any conclusions that we have lost them,” he responded when asked if there would be any survivors.
The chopper was carrying six people including Plantation Industries and Commodities Deputy Minister Noriah Kasnon, her husband Asmuni Abdullah and the parliamentarian for western Perak state’s Kuala Kangsar district, Wan Muhammad Khair-il Anuar Wan Ahmad.
The ministry’s secretary-general Sundaran Annamalai, Kasnon’s bodyguard Ahmad Sobri Harun and Filipino pilot Rudolf Rex Ragas had also been on board.
The civil aviation department announced Friday afternoon that helicopter debris and a woman’s body had been discovered in the forests of Sarawak, but there was no confirmation of the identity of the body.
The chopper lost contact with an air traffic control tower three minutes after taking off from Betong city at 4.12 p.m. (0800GMT) Thursday, PM Razak said.
They found helicopter parts included a rotation device, a seat, part of a door, part of a rotor and part of the body of the aircraft.
Kasnon and her entourage had been in Betong on Thursday for work related to her ministry in the run-up to the Sarawak state poll Saturday.
