Eight people have been k!lled after a helicopter crashed into dense jungle shortly after take-off.
The aircraft vanished from the radar at the start of its journey over Borneo’s vast palm oil plantations on Thursday, April 16.
The Airbus H130 owned by PT Matthew Air Nusantara lost contact five minutes after it took off from Melawi district in West Kalimantan province. It was on its way to another palm oil plantation in Kubu Raya district.
Searchers later located the wreckage and recovered the bodies of the two crew members and six passengers in the forests in Sekadau district, according to the National Search and Rescue Agency and the Transportation Ministry.
All eight on board were men and one was a Malaysian national, civil aviation director general Lukman F. Laisa reportedly said in a statement. The bodies were taken to the provincial capital of Pontianak.
“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 de@d,” he said.
