Eight people have been confirmed dead after a private helicopter crashed in a dense forest on Indonesia’s Borneo island.
The aircraft, an Airbus helicopter operated by local firm Matthew Air Nusantara, lost contact with air traffic control just five minutes after takeoff in West Kalimantan province on Thursday morning.
According to civil aviation director general Lukman F. Laisa, all eight occupants — two crew members and six passengers — were killed in the crash. One of the victims was a Malaysian national.
Search and rescue teams later located the wreckage deep within a forested area marked by steep terrain, making access difficult.
“The joint search and rescue team successfully located the crash site, and all passengers and crew members have been confirmed dead,” Laisa said.
Head of the national search and rescue agency, I Made Junetra, said the victims were found on Thursday evening. Their bodies are now being transported to Pontianak, the provincial capital.
Indonesia, a vast Southeast Asian archipelago, depends heavily on air travel to connect its thousands of islands. However, the country has struggled with aviation safety concerns for years.
The latest tragedy adds to a string of recent air accidents. In January, a turboprop aircraft chartered by the fisheries ministry crashed into a mountain in Sulawesi, killing all 10 people onboard.
In September last year, another helicopter crash in South Kalimantan claimed eight lives, while a separate crash in Papua’s Ilaga district killed four people less than two weeks later.
Authorities are expected to launch a full investigation into the cause of the latest crash.
