The focus of the search and rescue mission for the missing helicopter will be spread throughout three districts, Sri Aman, Simunjan and Betong said Sarawak police commissioner Muhammad Sabtu Osman.

Muhammad Sabtu said police had received a report from the Department of Civil Aviation (DCA) at 8.20pm and a team was deployed to the area to carry out the search and rescue operation.

"We have launched our search and rescue mission in Sri Aman, Simunjan and Betong," he said at a press conference here today.

He said 100 personnel from the Marine Police, Fire and Rescue Department, Police, General Operations Force and Civil Defence Department are involved in the mission.

At 6am this morning, a team from the marine police and a police helicopter will head to the area and join the search and rescue mission," he said.

It is believed that Deputy Minister of Plantation Industries and Commodities Noriah Kasnon, who is also Sungai Besar MP, was one of six people on board.

Reports also claimed that the other passengers were Kuala Kangsar MP Wan Mohammad Khairil Anuar Wan Ahmad, Plantation Industries and Commodities Ministry secretary-general Sundaran Annamalai, Noriah's husband Asmuni Abdullah, and bodyguard Ahmad Sobri.

The helicopter was piloted by Capt Rudolf Rex Raga.

- Bernama