Borneo helicopter crash kills all 8 people on board as it plunges to ground after take-off | World | News
All eight passengers on board a helicopter have died after the chopper plunged into the dense jungle minutes after take-off. The Airbus H130 owned by PT Matthew Air Nusantara lost contact on Thursday, just five minutes after it took off from Melawi district in the West Kalimantan province of Indonesia.
It was flying between palm oil plantations on Borneo Island and crashed on its way to one in the Kubu Raya district. Searchers located the wreckage and recovered the bodies of the two crew members and six passengers in the dense forests in Sekadau district, the National Search and Rescue Agency and the Transportation Ministry said.
One of the casualties has been confirmed as a Malaysian citizen, though the identities of the other seven are not yet known. The cause of the crash has also not been released.
This comes after eight people were killed in a helicopter crash on Borneo Island in September 2025, which happened in such a remote location that it took rescue teams over two days to find the wreckage.
The Airbus BK117 D-3 lost contact eight minutes after take-off from Kotabaru district in the South Kalimantan province. The aircraft, owned by Eastindo Air, was on its way to Palangkaraya City in Central Kalimantan Province.
More than 200 personnel from a joint team of police, military, local agencies, residents and volunteers were sent by land and air to comb a 10-square-mile stretch of forest in Mantewe, Tanahbumbu district.
In another terrifying incident, an ATR 42-500 lost contact and disappeared just 12 miles into its flight over South Sulawesi in January.
The aircraft was believed to have been carrying 10 people – three passengers and seven crew members – sparking a major rescue mission involving around 60 personnel searching the rugged terrain. All victims were found seven days later.
The only two to have been identified are cabin crew member Florencia Lolita and Deden Maulana, an official with the Marine Affairs and Fisheries Ministry, for which the aircraft was conducting patrols, according to the state-run news agency Antara.
