Rescuers continue search for chopper with seven on board
Rescuers are still searching for seven people, including officials and a deputy state minister, missing after their helicopter was feared to have crashed in the jungles of Borneo a week ago, police said.
"Police officers are still searching for the missing chopper. There is no sign of it and its passengers as yet," a district police official told AFP .
The helicopter lost contact with air traffic control shortly after noon last Monday in the remote Sarawak highlands.
It was carrying five government officials, including an assistant minister of eastern Sarawak state, and Sarawak Electricity Supply Corporation chief executive officer Roger Wong Hwa Puang and a pilot.
Help from US Navy
The search has dominated the front pages of local newspapers and gripped the nation's attention.
There are 1,200 ground volunteers and 19 aircraft involved in the search, the Star newspaper said. There have been offers of help from neighbouring Indonesia and Singapore, as well as the US Navy.
The mountainous terrain of the area made the search difficult, Deputy Sarawak Chief Minister George Chan said.
"Adding to the woes, the area is extensively covered by thick virgin forest to the detriment of ground search," he told the Bernama news agency.
Eileen Yen, wife of contractor Marcus Raja - one of the men aboard the missing chopper, said: "Deep in our hearts we believe that they are still alive."
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