Route taken by ill-fated chopper was safe: Liow

The route taken by the ill-fated Eurocopter AS350 that crashed near Batang Lupar on Thursday was a normal and safe route for helicopters, said Transport Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai.

He said there were no 'no-fly zones' introduced in the area as it was flat terrain with lots of helicopters using the same route at the same time when the unfortunate incident happen.

"We were informed at that time, poor weather was recorded in the area. It is not bad weather but poor weather as at the same time there were many helicopters passing through the same area," he told reporters when met at the Royal Malaysian Air Force Kuching air base here Friday.

READ: Helicopter tragedy: SAR Day 1 roundup

Liow said in earlier days, there were no-fly zones to interior areas of Sarawak as they were hilly and dangerous but technology had made the status to be changed.

"But in view of the technology now and information that we can get, we should be able to inform pilots the risk of flying certain routes. So the pilots have the chance to understand certain routes to make their judgement especially when it comes to weather," said Liow.

Liow said the investigation team now would investigate the causes of the incident.

READ: Helicopter services won't be grounded in Sarawak despite tragedy

He said the ministry had set up two operation centres, at the Transport Ministry, Putrajaya and at Kuching Airport here, to allow next-of-kin to be informed from time to time on the developments of the search and rescue operation.

They can be reached at 03-88921488 or 03-88921489 and 082-451702.

Six people were on board the helicopter, namely Deputy Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister Datuk Noriah Kasnon, her husband Asmuni Abdullah, the ministry's secretary-general Datuk Dr Sundaran Annamalai, Kuala Kangsar MP Datuk Wan Muhammad Khair-il Anuar Wan Ahmad, Noriah's bodyguard Ahmad Sobri Harun and Filipino pilot Rudolf Rex Ragas.

Noriah was killed in the incident.

The helicopter left Betong, about 250km from here, at 4.12pm yesterday and lost contact with the control tower three minutes later.