Rescuers found the charred remains of a helicopter that went missing on Borneo island while carrying eight people on board and retrieved one body, a rescue official said.
The helicopter was carrying two crew members and six passengers when it lost contact shortly after takeoff from South Kalimantan province on Monday.
“The land team... managed to find the debris of the helicopter,” the National Search and Rescue Agency’s operational director, Yudhi Bramantyo, told a news conference late Wednesday.
“The team found one victim around 100 metres from the helicopter,” he said.
“Based on our initial observation, there were other victims inside the helicopter, but we could not confirm the number due to the weather,” Yudhi added.
The helicopter was badly burnt and rescuers need to dismantle it to retrieve the rest of the victims.
Indonesia relies heavily on air transport to connect its thousands of islands, but has a poor aviation safety record. — AFP
