The body of surveyor Siti Khuzaimah Anuar, one of the three missing passengers of the ill-fated Eurocopter EC 120 that crashed with four on board near the Lingga estuary, Sri Aman yesterday, was recovered by local fishermen this morning.

Confirming this, Sarawak deputy police commissioner SAC Law Hong Soon said the body of Siti Khuzaimah, 27, which was swept by strong currents along the Batang Lupar, was found at Maludam some distance away from the crash site at about 11.10am.

“The body has been brought to Sebuyau to be sent to the nearest hospital at Simunjan for post-mortem,” he told Bernama in Kuching.

Later, the body of Sebiro Holdings engineer Peter Ato Mayau, 53, was also found.

He said three-pronged search and rescue operation being coordinated from the air, ground and sea had been intensified for the remaining missing passenger, architect Henry Lau Tee Yong, 42.

The Department of Civil Aviation was also deploying personnel to the crash site, about 150km from Kuching, to determine the cause of the crash while initial investigations showed that the Sebiro-owned helicopter had sunk upon impact, he said.

Fishermen rescued the German pilot, Rico Steger, 35, who was ferrying the trio to assess a project in Nanga Merit, Kapit from Kuching, at about 2pm yesterday, after he swam for four hours in strong water currents.

- Bernama