A tragic helicopter crash on the Indonesian island of Borneo left eight people dead on the spot just minutes after take off.
Officials said the plane was headed towards another palm oil plantation in the Kubu Raya district.
As reported on Friday, April 17, Indonesian officials shared that the Airbus H130 operated by PT Mathew Air Nusantara lost contact just five minutes after departure from the Melawi district of West Kalimantan province on Thursday.
While searching the wreckage, rescue teams found and recovered the bodies of two crew members and six passengers in dense forests of the Sekadou district.
The National Search and Rescue Agency confirmed the number of casualties while the Transport Ministry identified one of the victims as a Malaysian.
Borneo is the third largest island in the world and is divided between Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei. The accident occurred on the largely Indonesian side of the island.
It is noteworthy that Indonesia has seen many accidents in recent years.
The major reason for such transportation accidents is that the country has a poor aviation safety record with several fatal accidents in recent years.
Earlier in September 2025, eight people were killed in a helicopter crash as it crashed in South Kalimantan province, killing all on board.
Then a turboprop plane chartered by the Fisheries Ministry also crashed into a mountain on Sulawesi island in January, killing all 10 people on board.
Additionally, an Indonesia Air Transport plane went missing on the island of Sulawesi in January and the bodies of all 10 passengers were recovered a week later.
