ISKANDAR PUTERI, July 10 — Police are focusing efforts on locating the black box of the helicopter that crashed near Sungai Pulai, Gelang Patah, this morning, to determine the cause of the incident, said Inspector-General of Police Datuk Seri Mohd Khalid Ismail.
He said the search is being performed with the Civil Aviation Authority of Malaysia, the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA), and agencies with technical investigation expertise.
In addition to locating the black box, efforts are underway to recover the chopper wreckage, believed to have sunk to the riverbed.
“A coordinated effort is being carried out with the cooperation of various agencies, involving highly specialised technical expertise,” he said after inspecting the crash site near the MMEA jetty in Gelang Patah today.
Also present was Johor police chief Datuk M. Kumar.
According to Khalid, the wreckage recovery is expected to take some time as it requires specialised expertise and equipment for underwater operations.
“We cannot yet confirm when the wreckage will be retrieved, as it will require specific expertise, possibly even from third-party sources. I’ve been informed that the river is about 25 feet (7.6m) deep, which complicates matters,” he said.
The five policemen on board survived the crash, but two of them were seriously injured.
The AS355N helicopter crashed while performing an honour flypast as part of a demonstration during the Multilateral Nuclear Security Detection Exercise, involving Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and Singapore.
— Bernama
