At least eight people have been confirmed dead after a private helicopter crashed in a dense forest on Indonesia’s Borneo island, authorities said.
The aircraft, an Airbus helicopter operated by local aviation firm Matthew Air Nusantara, reportedly lost contact with air traffic control just five minutes after takeoff in West Kalimantan province.
Indonesia’s Director General of Civil Aviation, Lukman F. Laisa, confirmed that all eight occupants—two crew members and six passengers—died in the crash. He added that all those on board were men, including one Malaysian national.
“The joint search and rescue team had successfully located the crash site of the aircraft and, based on information from the field, all passengers and crew members have been confirmed dead,” Laisa said in an official statement.
Rescue teams located the wreckage in a remote forest area characterized by steep slopes, complicating recovery efforts. Head of the search and rescue agency, I Made Junetra, said responders worked under difficult terrain conditions to retrieve the victims.
“The victims were found in a dense forest area with steep slopes,” Junetra told journalists, noting that the bodies were later airlifted to Pontianak, the provincial capital.
Indonesia, an expansive Southeast Asian archipelago, depends heavily on air travel to connect its thousands of islands. However, the country has faced persistent aviation safety challenges, with multiple fatal incidents recorded in recent years.
In January, a turboprop aircraft chartered by the fisheries ministry crashed into a mountain on Sulawesi island, killing all 10 people on board. Similarly, in September last year, a helicopter crash in South Kalimantan claimed eight lives, while another incident in Papua’s Ilaga district killed four people less than two weeks later.
Authorities have yet to disclose the cause of the latest crash, but investigations are expected to begin immediately.
