Three soldiers were killed while four others were injured when a huge tree fell on one of the base camps near Sungai Ketar in the Royal Belum Forest early Saturday after two days of heavy downpour, Bernama reported. Second Brigade Commander Brig-Jen Datuk Fazlurrahman Mohamad Irfan said a rescue operation was launched immediately after the incident. The four injured soldiers were brought out by boat at about 10am. Besides deploying airforce helicopters, the access route to the Royal Belum State Park, north of Temenggor Lake, was only by boat from Pulau Banding, about 50km from here, two hours boat ride. The three dead soldiers pinned under the timber tree trunk were extricated with the help of firemen and loggers who sawed the tree trunk. Two of the dead were airlifted in the morning while the remains of the third was only winched up by an airforce helicopter at about 2.30pm, he said.