This comes after Wee drew brickbats over conflicting reports on the pilot’s survival.
Among those who had hit out at the minister was DAP chairman Lim Guan Eng, who demanded that Wee “explain his grievous error”.
Wee said the ministry received an update from the Royal Malaysian Air Force (TUDM) that the wreckage had been found and that the pilot had survived at 8.20am on Monday.
He said he received another update confirming the pilot’s survival at 8.50am.
He said it was based on this information that he announced that the pilot, Richard Chan, 58, had been found alive at the crash site.
He pointed out that the subsequent update made by Perak police chief Yusri Hassan Basri confirming that Chan had died was made two hours later.
“Unfortunately, in those two hours, Chan passed away,” Wee said at a press conference at a Civil Aviation Authority of Malaysia (CAAM) event.
He urged people against “stirring up still water”, adding that it was not right to politicise a man’s death.
CAAM chief executive Chester Voo also confirmed that initial reports from TUDM stated that the helicopter’s pilot had survived.
“During the rescue mission, the victim lost consciousness. Upon arriving at SMK Anderson in Ipoh, he was pronounced dead by health ministry officers at 10.46am,” he said, adding that only health ministry officers had the expertise to verify Chan’s death.
In confirming Chan’s death yesterday, Yusri said the pilot worked for a private firm and that his body had been taken to Hospital Raja Permaisuri Bainun in Ipoh for a post-mortem.
The privately-owned Eurocopter EC120B helicopter had taken off from Subang airport at 11.37am on Sunday 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 was launched in southern Perak.
The CAAM said the helicopter had been shown on radar as suffering a sharp loss of altitude in less than a minute. However, it said no distress calls were heard from the pilot as controllers tried to make contact.
Meanwhile, Bernama reported that the transport ministry’s air accident investigation bureau and the police’s forensics unit have begun investigations at the location of the crash in the Chikus forest reserve near Bidor.
Yusri said the demarcated area has been placed under tight security and the wreckage of the helicopter will be handed over to the owner for further action after the investigation is completed.