Navy to concentrate on finding more copter parts

PETALING JAYA: With all six bodies from the AS350 helicopter crash in Batang Lupar, Sarawak, believed recovered, the focus of the Royal Malaysian Navy will be on the remaining wreckage.

It is using a high-resolution digital sonar system to scan the river to search for pieces of the helicopter wreckage.

The navy’s Region 2 Naval Commander Rear Admiral Datuk Khairul Anuar Yahya told The Star Online yesterday that a team was already at Lingga with the device.

The navy is using a high-resolution sonar – the System 3900 Side Scan Sonar – commonly used in search and recovery missions.

“How it works is that it gives a digital picture of the bottom of the river,” Rear Admiral Khairul said.

He said the sonar would emit a sound frequency, which is used to create an image of the riverbed.

“We can actually see the image of the riverbed. So from there, the operators will have to determine whether (the image) is of a boulder, whether it is a rock, or something else,” he added.

He said conditions of the river had made it very difficult for divers to search for the missing wreckage.

“During high tide, the currents are very fast, and we also understand that the river is infested with crocodiles,” he said.

“The water is also very murky. You cannot see even the palm of your hand when you put it in the water. With this system, we will get a clearer picture of the riverbed,” he said.

The device is used frequently by the navy to chart the bottom of oceans and rivers.