The helicopter crash off Bintulu in Sarawak yesterday afternoon has raised many questions since nobody is willing to talk about the incident.

The nine survivors were brought to the Bintulu Hospital under police security at around 11.10pm, almost nine hours after the incident was reported.

According to Bernama , they were still clad in their red and yellow overalls. One of them was carried on a stretcher on arrival at the hospital's accident and emergency unit while another had to be placed on a wheelchair for further treatment.

The rest appeared unhurt and walked on their own to the unit but all refused to speak to the members of the press at the hospital.

The report said hospital authorities also kept a tight lid on their identities. One passenger of the ill-fated Super Puma L2 helicopter is still reported missing while the nine, including two pilots, were rescued by an emergency response team.

According to a Petronas statement issued in Kuala Lumpur, six of the passengers were staff of Petronas Carigali Sdn Bhd, while another two were workers of a company contracted to Petronas Carigali.

The Malaysian Helicopter Services'(MHS) chopper crashed about 80km off Bintulu at about 2.30pm shortly after taking off from an offshore platform enroute to another, said the statement that was released almost six hours after the incident.

Kept in the dark

Bernama learnt that latest information of the incident had been kept exclusively for the management level as some press members expressed disappointment that the Petronas official statement was lacking basic information.

A police report was said to have been lodged here about the incident but Bernama could not reach Bintulu Police Chief Supt Sulaiman Abdul Razak or the Central Police Station's officer-in-charge ASP Hasmeera Hassan to confirm this.

In another report, Bernama said the media is being kept in the dark about the incident.

In the latest development, the Star reported that the body of missing passenger Aewan Faslasaini Sallehin, a 22-year-old technician, was found today trapped inside the helicopter.