About 1,000 soldiers, police personnel and villagers are involved in the search and rescue operations of the missing helicopter with seven on board in the Bario highlands of Sarawak.

The operations, now in its fourth day, is believed to be the biggest search and rescue ever mounted by the authorities in the state.

Sarawak Deputy Chief Minister Alfred Jabu said in Kuching today that the ground search had been intensified with 16 members from the General Operations Force's specially trained VAT 69 rescue team being flown in from Kuala Lumpur. The team is on the way to Bario on a Hornbill Sykways aircraft.

"Our air surveillance has been periodically hampered by the bad weather condition but the ground search involving many parties continues," he told Bernama .

The search and rescue party in Bario has identified the likely site of the missing Hornbill Skyways helicopter, Jabu added.

However, he could not pinpoint or give further details on the exact location due to the poor communication.

The six-seater Bell 206 helicopter went missing en route to Ba Kelalan from Bario on Monday.

On board were Assistant Minister in the Chief Minister's Office Dr Judson Tagal and six others - pilot Kapt Samsuddin Hashim, Sarawak Electricity Supply Corporation (Sesco) chief executive officer Roger Wong, Padawan Municipal Council chairperson Lawrence Th'ng, contractor Marcus Raja and Sesco engineers Jason Ng and Ling Tian Ho.

Praying for safe return

Meanwhile, their family members have remained positive and praying for their safe return

Bernama reported that at the home of Judson in Kuching, family members are taking turns praying for good weather and that he and the six others will be found.

Close friends including wives of state cabinet ministers and assistant ministers have also been coming daily to give moral support and comfort.

At the Borneo Evangelical Church (SIB) in Kuching where Judson is a member, prayers continue for the safe return of the seven.

At Raja's residence, also in Kuching, only family members and pressmen were allowed in.

Kapt Samsuddin's wife, Idah Selamat, contacted by Bernama at her BDC home in Kuching declined to be interviewed.

Samsuddin, of Batu Pahat, Johor, was a pilot with the Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF) before joining Hornbill Skyways in 1995.

Relatives and friends of Lawrence Th'ng in Kuching are also surprised as to why he was on board the ill-fated copter. The Padawan council's jurisdiction is just within Kuching district.