A German pilot was rescued but three passengers remained missing after their helicopter crashed into a river on the remote island of Borneo in Malaysia, an official said Friday.
The privately owned helicopter went down near a small coastal town in Sarawak state in eastern Malaysia earlier Friday, state police chief Acryl Sani Abdullah Sani told AFP.
He said authorities were searching for two men and a woman. The three are believed to be Malaysian engineers and a surveyor, and the flight was a business trip, Acryl Sani said.
He said that after the helicopter crashed the pilot managed to get out from the wreck and swim for four hours before being rescued by local fishermen.
Acryl Sani said authorities were still investigating what caused the accident and were waiting to speak to the pilot who was "still shaken and in trauma".
In 2010, an American pilot was killed when his Sikorsky S-64 helicopter, carrying logs, crashed in Sarawak state. Most of the state is dense jungle.
