Brunei To The Rescue As Blackhawks Swing Into Action For SAR

Miri - The Royal Brunei Air Force will deploy two helicopters to help in the search and rescue (SAR) for the seven people on board the helicopter that went missing in the jungles of northern Sarawak on Monday.

State Assistant Infrastructure and Communications Minister Lee Kim Shin, who is the operation coordinator in Miri, said the RBAF would be using the Blackhawk and Bell 212 helicopters, Bernama reported.

"The Brunei air force will depart Bandar Seri Begawan and head straight to the SAR area and will return to Brunei after the operation daily," he said.

Today, 17 members of the RBAF, led by Major Hamzah Sahat, were given a briefing on the missing helicopter by Lee and other SAR officers here.

Lee said Deputy Chief Minister Tan Sri Dr George Chan, who is in charge of the Bario Search and Rescue Operation had been informed of the offer from Brunei to help find the seven on board.

"Dr Chan, on behalf of the state government and the victims' families, would like to thank the Brunei government for its offer to help," he said.

Apart from Brunei, the United States, Australia and Indonesia have also offered their help.

The Bell 206 helicopter piloted by Kapt Samsuddin Hashim was reported missing about 15 minutes after taking off from Bario shortly after noon en route to Ba'Kelalan.

On board were Assistant Minister in the Chief Minister's Department, Dr Judson Sakai Tagal, Padawan Municipal Council chairman, Lawrence Th'ng; Sarawak Electricity Supply Corporation (Sesco) chief executive officer, Roger Wong; contractor Datuk Marcus Raja and two Sesco engineers, Jason Ng and Ling Tian Ho. -- Courtesy of Borneo Bulletin

Click Here To Have Your Say On This Story

Brudirect.com News