WEST KALIMANTAN, Indonesia: A helicopter that had lost contact was found to have crashed in a remote and dense forest area in Sekadau Regency on Thursday (April 16).
According to the Pontianak Post, eight people were on board an Airbus Helicopters H130 (registration PK-CFX) en route to Kubu Raya Regency from Melawi Regency when communication was lost mid-flight.
The aircraft was carrying two crew members and six passengers during its morning journey from the interior of Melawi.
According to local authorities, the helicopter departed at approximately 7:34 am (WIB) from the helipad of PT Citra Mahkota Abadi, located in Nanga Keruap Village, Menukung District, Melawi.
It was scheduled to land at around 8:50 am at the helipad of PT Graha Agro Nusantara 1 in Teluk Bakung Village, Sungai Ambawang District, Kubu Raya.
However, the aircraft lost contact with air traffic monitoring at 8:39 am, with authorities only receiving confirmation of the incident at around 11:00 am.
According to the portal, after hours of search operations across dense terrain, a joint search and rescue (SAR) team eventually located the crash site in a forested area of Nanga Taman District later that evening.
The operations involved multiple agencies, including the Indonesian National Armed Forces (TNI), Indonesian National Police (Polri), National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas), Regional Disaster Management Agency (BPBD), Forest Management Unit (KPH), Fire and Rescue Department (Damkar), as well as local residents.
Sekadau Police’s Head of Operations, Assistant Commissioner of Police (AKP) Sugianto confirmed that the SAR team had reached the crash site based on the helicopter’s last known coordinates.
“We have reached the crash site. However, evacuation cannot be carried out tonight due to darkness and extremely steep terrain,” he said.
He added that the team decided to remain on a hill near the crash site, with evacuation efforts to resume once conditions improve the following morning.
Earlier, initial clues to the helicopter’s location were obtained through an aerial search conducted by the Indonesian Air Force (TNI AU).
During the search, debris were found, believed to be part of the missing aircraft, at around 3:25 pm in the Nanga Taman forest area, which then became the primary focus of the ground the SAR team.
