JAKARTA
\nTwo crew members and six passengers were killed when a private helicopter crashed in dense forest on Indonesia\u2019s Borneo island, the transport ministry said Friday.
\nThe Airbus helicopter, owned by local firm Matthew Air Nusantara, lost contact with air traffic control about five minutes after takeoff in the West Kalimantan province on Thursday morning.
\nAll eight on board were men and one was a Malaysian national, civil aviation director general Lukman F Laisa said in a statement.
\n\u201cThe 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 dead,\u201d he said.
\nRescuers found the crash victims Thursday evening in a dense forest area with steep slopes, search and rescue agency head I Made Junetra told AFP Friday. The bodies were being flown to the provincial capital of Pontianak, Made added.
\nIndonesia, a vast archipelago in Southeast Asia, relies heavily on air transport to connect its thousands of islands. The country has a poor aviation safety record, with several fatal accidents in recent years.
\nA turboprop plane chartered by the fisheries ministry crashed into a mountain on the island of Sulawesi in January, killing all 10 people on board.
\nIn September last year, a helicopter carrying six passengers and two crew members crashed in South Kalimantan province, killing all on board.
\nFour people were killed less than two weeks later when another helicopter crashed in the remote Papua district of Ilaga.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
JAKARTA Two crew members and six passengers were killed when a private helicopter crashed in dense forest on Indonesia\u2019s Borneo island, the transport ministry said Friday. The Airbus helicopter, owned by local firm Matthew Air Nusantara, lost contact with air traffic control about five minutes after takeoff in the West Kalimantan province on Thursday morning. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-542417","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n