KALIMANTAN: A civilian helicopter crashed into the Barito River in Barito Kuala regency, South Kalimantan, on Sunday during a water-bombing operation to fight forest fires, killing one person and injuring two others.
“The helicopter with registration number VH-HGM was known to carry three flight crew,” the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) said in a statement.
Sunday’s crash occurred at about 11.56am, just four days after an Indonesian Army Mi-17V5 heavy transport helicopter crashed while scooping water for a similar firefighting operation in neighbouring Central Kalimantan on Wednesday.
Initially, the agency reported that all crew members had survived the crash. Later in the day, however, BNPB issued another statement saying that two foreign crew members had survived while an Indonesian crew member remained missing.
The Indonesian crew member was later found dead.
“We received information from Jenamas district head, Zulkarnain Masdipura, that one helicopter crew member was found dead and is currently being evacuated,” South Barito Disaster Mitigation Agency (BPBD) executive director Agus Inyulius said, as quoted by Antaranews.com on Sunday.
The deceased crew member was identified as Yayan Supyansury, a helicopter landing officer (HLO).
The surviving crew members were Australian Michael John Betterridge and New Zealander Hugh Andrew John Page.
A video clip circulated on social media showed a Eurocopter EC225LP Super Puma heavy transport helicopter scooping water from the river using a Bambi bucket.
Moments later, the helicopter appeared to lose altitude, with its nose pointing downwards before it crashed into the river.
“The helicopter with serial number MSN 2878 is registered under private ownership and contracted by BNPB for water-bombing operations,” the agency said.
“In Indonesia, the helicopter is often deployed to support various disaster response missions by BNPB, with its routes covering Banjarmasin, Pontianak and Surabaya.”
BNPB said its priorities were to ensure the surviving crew members received medical attention and to secure the helicopter wreckage on the riverbank.
“BNPB is also committed to facilitating an official investigation by the authorities to establish the exact cause of the accident and prevent speculation among the public,” the agency said.
It added that a comprehensive aviation safety evaluation would be conducted, covering fleet technical readiness, water-scooping procedures, crew fitness, weather conditions and the characteristics of the location.
The agency said it remained committed to tackling forest and land fires by strengthening ground operations and conducting strict evaluations of its aerial fleet.
The helicopter was operated by Australian firm ARC Helicopters and based at Moorabbin Airport, in a suburban area southeast of Melbourne, Victoria.
Although the company's website appeared to be unavailable when the article was written, its LinkedIn page described it as an Australian-owned and operated company providing helicopter charter services, aerial work, emergency services and consultancy.
The EC225LP is the civilian version of the H225M Caracal, which is operated by the Indonesian Air Force for combat search and rescue (CSAR) missions.
Both variants have similar basic configurations, although the Caracal is equipped with an armoured cockpit and weapon stations.
Both use Turbomeca Makila 2A1 turboshaft engines, allowing them to carry loads of up to 4,750kg using a sling. They also have the same maximum take-off weight of 11,000kg.
Wednesday's accident occurred when the Mi-17V5 helicopter was reportedly scooping water from the sea using a Bambi bucket.
The crash killed Lt Col Anwar Dudi Firmansyah and Capt Nurhafiz Akbar, while First Sgt Heri Prasetyo was initially declared missing.
Anwar and Nurhafiz were buried with full military honours on Thursday, while police divers recovered Heri's body on Friday, Kompas.com reported.
All three Indonesian Army Aviation Centre (Puspenerbad) personnel received posthumous promotions for being killed in the line of duty.
Meanwhile, Indonesian Navy divers recovered the Russian-made helicopter's flight data recorder (FDR) and tailboom on Saturday.
“The Indonesian Fleet Command, through the Fleet Command I's Divers and Underwater Rescue Team, successfully evacuated the flight data recorder (FDR) and Mi-17 tailboom,” the Indonesian Fleet Command said in a press release.
“The FDR was then handed over to Puspenerbad's investigation team for further investigation into the accident.” - Jakarta Post/ANN
