“We know him as an enthusiastic helicopter pilot who was planning to land a job in Malaysia. It’s a mystery how the helicopter went down so quickly as he is a skilful pilot,” said one source.

The pilot’s identity was withheld by the authorities until his fate is known. However, photographs have been circulated on social media showing a person holding an aviation certificate.

At press time, it remained unknown whether the helicopter had crashed or had made an emergency landing. Rescue operations were suspended at 8pm because of bad weather and will resume tomorrow.

The privately-owned Eurocopter EC120B helicopter had been shown on radar as suffering a sharp loss of altitude in less than a minute, said Civil Aviation Authority of Malaysia chief executive Captain Chester Voo.

No distress calls were heard from the pilot as controllers tried to make contact, he said, according to Bernama.

The helicopter had taken off from Subang airport at 11.37am for a general flight to Ipoh, where it was expected to land at 12.37pm. Contact was lost at 12.16pm and a rescue operation launched in southern Perak.

Perak police said information from the public was received that an explosion was heard in Jeram Mengkuang.

“Some people said helicopters were flying low in the Kampung Kenangan area.” A control centre will be set up there tomorrow, Bernama reported.

The helicopter is believed to be owned by Flystar Global Sdn Bhd, said industry sources, who disputed earlier reports that it was owned by Heli Outpost Sdn Bhd, as the company does not have an aircraft operating licence.

Perak police chief Mohd Yusri Hassan Basri said the search team had concentrated on the coordinates for the Chikus Forest Reserve and on the areas as reported by the public. The SAR team will narrow down the search area tomorrow, he said.