Fishermen recover bodies of two helicopter crash victims, search for third missing passenger still on
KUCHING: The bodies of two of the three missing passengers of a private helicopter, which crashed at the mouth of Sungai Teriso near Sebuyau on Friday, were found yesterday.
State deputy police commissioner Dato Law Hong Soon, who is overseeing the search-and-rescue (SAR) operation, confirmed that the bodies of Siti Khuzaimah Anwar and Peter Ato Mayau were recovered ‘some distance away’ from the crash site.
“Siti’s body was found by fishermen near Maludam along Sungai Teriso around 11.15am. Peter’s body was found by villagers and rescuers not far from Kampung Tebelu about 2.30pm.
“Both bodies have been sent to the Simunjan hospital and will be released to their respective families after a post mortem is conducted,” said Law, who was at the hospital together with the families of the two deceased when contacted.
He added that both bodies were fully clothed when found and without life jackets, as the Eurocopter EC120 they were travelling in did not have any life vests onboard.
The SAR operation to locate the third missing passenger on the EC120, Henry Loh, is still ongoing with rescuers combing the air, sea and beaches.
The trio together with chopper pilot Rico Steger, were heading to Nanga Merit in Kapit from Kuching to inspect a school project when the helicopter belonging to Sebiro Holdings crashed and sunk around 9.20am after encountering technical difficulties and inclement weather.
Peter, 53, a civil engineer, and 27-year-old Siti a quantity surveyor, were employees of Sebiro. Henry, 42, an architect, is said to be the consultant for the project.
Peter is also state PKR vice-chairman who contested in Tarat in the last year’s state election but lost.
He was said to be among the possible Pakatan Rakyat candidates for the Mambong parliamentary seat in the coming general election.
German national Rico, 35, swam for nearly four hours against the strong river current before reaching the jetty of Kampung Tebelu in Sebuyau around 12.30pm clad only in his boxer shorts.
Local villagers told reporters of their shock at seeing a muddied Caucasian man emerging from the river, adding they initially did not know what had happened and they could not understand what he was saying.
A woman from Kuching, who happened to be in the village at the time, managed to communicate with Rico and, after learning of the chopper crash, quickly sent him to the Sebuyau police station where he lodged a report.
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UPDATE
SEBUYAU: The body of last victim of the tragic helicopter crash, Henry Loh, was found around 7.40am today at sea off Triso coast in Sri Aman.
The body was found by crew members of a chartered boat. The identity of the 42-year-old architect has been confirmed by his family.
The search and rescue operation has stopped following the recovery of Loh, one of the three missing passengers.
The body of Loh is on the way to Sarawak General Hospital Kuching.
The bodies of Siti Khuzaimah Anwar, 27, and Peter Ato Mayau, 53, were found yesterday.
The German pilot, Rico Steger, 35, was the only survivor as he swam his way out of the wreckage for several hours in strong currents before reaching Kampung Tebelu, Sebuyau.
They were on the way from Kuching to Nanga Merit, Kapit Division for a school project site inspection.
The late Henry is an architect cum consultant of Sebiro Holdings while the late Ato and Siti Khuzaimah were engineer and quantity surveyor of the company respectively.