A Royal Cambodian Armed Force (RCAF) official told CamboJA News on Friday that as of this morning, there was no sign of the Z-9 helicopter as the search operation was disrupted by floods. There is also no increase in the troop numbers but there has been a shift in exploration due to exhaustion.
RCAF spokesperson Thong Solimo said the continuous downpour in the Pursat province’s Thmar Da area caused the rivers and streams to overflow, which interfered with the exploration.
On July 17, Minister of National Defense Tea Seiha visited the site and met the army and Provincial Administrative Unity Command, who were engaged in an active search mission.
The ministry increased the number of troops to 876 from various units after zero clues from the search in the first four days when only 380 troops from the 5th Military Region were deployed for the operation.
It also demarcated a search and rescue area covering 50 square kilometers where the helicopter went missing on the morning of July 12, 2024.
There are no reinforcements but there has been a shift in strength of team members involved in the operation in the past few days due to fatigue, Solimo said on Friday, adding that the teams were made up mostly of RCAF soldiers, with no foreign forces.
However, the joint force will continue to work hard to overcome obstacles, with a high commitment to locate the helicopter and missing officers Sun Pla and Kheng Chaiyuth.
Meanwhile, the two officers’ relatives, family and friends continued to pray to the sacred “mountain spirits” to “open the way” for the exploration team and for the officers to be found soon.
On July 18, a Facebook user Kalyan Natara, who is Chaiyuth’s wife posted a video with a caption, “The silent wait is the most difficult wait to endure. May my husband Kheng Chhaiyuth be safe.”
On the same day, she posted another photo of her family visiting a pagoda to offer food to monks. “May the good deed my family has done today help my husband Kheng Chhaiyuth be safe, find a way out of the forest as soon as possible, for someone to see and save him.
“May the owner of the water, land […] forest spirits […] who take care of the land, please protect, open the way and guide my husband Kheng Chhaiyuth to walk out of the forest to meet his wife and children soon,” she wrote.
In July 2014, a similar Z-9 military helicopter crashed during a rescue exercise on the outskirts of Phnom Penh, killing four military officers.
A local publication reported that Cambodia received 12 Harbin Z-9 military utility helicopters from China, marked by a handover ceremony at an air force base outside of Phnom Penh in 2013. The helicopter is said to be a Chinese version of a French design, built for humanitarian missions and rescue work during natural disasters.
