Malaysian commandoes located the bodies about 100m from the crash site, in a remote region of the state of Sarawak

Commandoes found the remains of five of the seven passengers when they reached the aircraft's wreckage on Thursday.

The mission to find survivors was dubbed the longest, most costly search operation in Malaysian history.

The helicopter set off from the town of Bario on 12 July, carrying a minister in the Sarawak state government, the chief executive of an electricity company and five others.

The terrain where the aircraft crashed was so remote that commandoes had to be winched down from a military helicopter.

They found the badly decomposed bodies of four passengers inside the wrecked aircraft, and one outside.

The operation to find the missing helicopter was further hampered by bad weather and dense jungle.

The BBC's correspondent in Kuala Lumpur, Jonathan Kent, said there were also allegations of political interference.