He said the search is being carried out in collaboration with several agencies, including the Civil Aviation Authority of Malaysia, Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency and other agencies with technical investigation expertise.

Khalid said efforts were also underway to recover the wreckage of the helicopter, which is believed to have sunk to the riverbed.

He said recovering the helicopter wreckage is expected to take some time as it requires specialised expertise and equipment for underwater operations.

“So far, we cannot confirm when the wreckage will be retrieved, as it will require specific expertise, possibly even from third-party sources.

“I’ve been informed that the river is about 25 feet deep, which complicates matters,” Bernama reported him as saying.

All five police personnel on board survived the crash, but two of them were seriously injured.

The AS355N helicopter crashed while taking part in a regional security training exercise, held in conjunction with the Malaysia-Indonesia-Thailand-Singapore Nuclear Security Detection Exercise 2025.