Key facts
- An Indonesian crew member died when a helicopter crashed into a river in South Kalimantan during a firefighting mission.
- An Australian and a New Zealander on board were found safe and taken to hospital, the disaster mitigation agency said.
- The helicopter was a Super Puma H-225 owned by a company contracted by disaster authorities, a disaster official told AFP.
- Days earlier, another helicopter crashed in central Kalimantan during firefighting work, killing three crew members.
One person died after a helicopter crashed into a river in South Kalimantan, Indonesia, during a mission to fight wildfires, according to the country's disaster mitigation agency. An Indonesian crew member was killed, while an Australian and a New Zealander on board were found safe and taken to hospital for treatment, the agency said.
The agency said on Sunday that investigations into the accident were ongoing and that it could continue its firefighting operations. The helicopter was a Super Puma H-225 owned by a company the disaster authorities had contracted for the firefighting work, a disaster official told AFP.
Videos posted by Indonesia's disaster authorities and circulating on social media showed the helicopter hovering over the river with a helicopter bucket, a collapsible container typically used to douse water over fires, before it nosedived into the water. Other videos showed rescuers reaching the partially submerged helicopter by boat.
The crash came days after another helicopter went down in central Kalimantan during a firefighting operation, killing three crew members. The military said on Saturday it had retrieved that helicopter's blackbox, which it said would help investigations into the cause.
Parts of Indonesia have been battling wildfires for months, with blazes in forests and peatlands fueled by a dry season exacerbated by El Niño. The fires have shrouded large areas of South East Asia in haze and triggered a rise in respiratory illnesses in cities across Kalimantan and Sumatra, with the smog drifting to Malaysia and Singapore. Foreign governments have sent assistance, including Australia, which has deployed aircraft and 20 personnel including pilots and paramedics.