http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/NST/helirescue/index_html
pictures...
Sarawak copter crash 7 pple lost...
searched some websites and the seating capacity is somewhere 5-6
maybe they overloaded the plane and it crashed?
This kind of thing shouldn't happen AT all
those pple at the copter were all high rankers
CEO and 1 assistant minister somemore sia....
another theory which i have formed is that it might have been shot down by a RPG-7 used by a JI operative in Indonesia...
another thoery of mine is that the copter misfunctioned in mid-air
or maybe...The copter itself.. got intercepted by Indonesians F-16 flying in that Area and got hit by double AIM-9X missiles...and the indonesians quickly went to clear the bodies and the copter..
or prolly..it JUST crashed after being struck by lightning or prolly a kampong boy threw a stone at it and the whole rotor got jammed so it crashed
any comments
5 chinese and 2 malays?..
any comments??
just felt that it was because of poor maintenances of the bell copter
my condolences to the malaysian air force
The third day of the search-and-rescue operation for seven on board a missing helicopter in northern Sarawak ended with still no sign of life or wreckage.
However, the State's two Deputy Chief Ministers, Tan Sri Alfred Jabu and Tan Sri Dr George Chan, speaking separately, gave two different accounts indicating that rescuers were narrowing down to a more precise location on which to concentrate their search.
Jabu told reporters here that an emergency signal had been detected from the missing Bell 206 Long Ranger helicopter, but Chan dismissed talk of a distress signal and said that air reconnaissance suggested the helicopter may have ploughed through some foliage not far from Ba'Kelalan.
The seven missing since Monday are State Assistant Minister Dr Judson Sakai Tagal, 50, Sarawak Electricity Supply Corporation (Sesco) CEO Roger Wong, 56, contractor Datuk Marcus Rajah, 51, Padawan Municipal Council chairman Lawrence Th'ng, 56, engineers Jason Eng, 43, and Ling Kian Ho, 41, and pilot Captain Samsudin Hashim, 45.
They were travelling in a helicopter which is believed to have gone down somewhere in the highlands between Bario and Ba'Kelalan.
Jabu said the signal was from an Emergency Location Beacon (ELB) fitted in the six-seater aircraft. The beacon could have been triggered manually or upon impact.
The ELB can send signals up to a radius of eight kilometres. Jabu said the signal was coming from primary forest about 8km from the Sarawak-Kalimantan border and about 30km from Ba'Kelalan.
"The signal was very strong," he said at a Press conference at the Hornbill Skyways operations centre today.
It was first picked up at 2.30pm by a Malaysia Airlines twin-otter plane flying over on the way to Bario.
Almost immediately, the signal was picked up by a Hornbill Bell helicopter conducting an air search in the vicinity. The signal was picked up for the third time several minutes later by a police helicopter.
As soon as the message was relayed to search-and-rescue operations centres in Ba'Kelalan and Bario, a large ground search party, including seven commandos, was despatched to the area. They are expected to reach the site later tonight.
However, in Bario, Chan said no distress signals had been detected.
Instead, he told reporters late this evening that air surveillance units had detected two jungled areas near the Sarawak-Kalimantan border that had been damaged, possibly by an aircraft crashing through.
He said the site was not far from Ba'Kelalan, and that a search team had been sent to the area. It was expected to reach the site at midnight.
More than 1,000 people, including paramedics, doctors, soldiers, volunteers and Kelabit and Lun Bawang, are involved in the search-and-rescue operation.
The seven were travelling to the highlands to survey potential sites for the construction of a mini-hydro dam to generate electricity for the more than 5,000-strong Kelabit and Lun Bawang communities there.