Rescuers find chopper wreckage, all 6 Malaysian airforce staff dead

KUALA LUMPUR (AP) - A Malaysian airforce helicopter missing since last week crashed in the country's jungle-covered interior, killing all six people on board, an official said Tuesday.

Rescuers found the wreckage of the Royal Malaysian Air Force's Sikorsky S-61 helicopter and bodies of the five men and a woman in jungles in central Pahang state just after noon Tuesday, said Zulkiflee Abdul Latiff, an airforce spokesman.

"There are no survivors," he told The Associated Press.

Further details will be released by Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak, who is also defense minister, at a news conference later Tuesday, he said.

The helicopter disappeared during bad weather over hilly, jungle-clad terrain Friday while transporting crew from Kuala Lumpur to a military base in Pahang. The government mounted a massive search operation involving some 1,000 soldiers, police and other rescue personnel as well as more than a dozen aircraft.