Rescuers are trying to reach the site after a helicopter crashed in Indonesia. -AP
All eight people on board a helicopter have been killed when it crashed in Indonesia's West Kalimantan province, with search teams trying to retrieve the bodies and wreckage.
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The Airbus H130 helicopter lost contact on Thursday morning five minutes after taking off from a plantation area in Melawi, Mohammad Syafii, the head of Indonesia's rescue agency, said on Friday.
"The location of the crash or loss of contact is in a densely forested area with steep hilly terrain," Syafii said, saying rescuers had found debris suspected to be the tail of the helicopter approximately three kilometres west of where contact was lost.
The cause of the crash remains unclear. A spokesperson from the local rescue agency said the six passengers and two crew members onboard had died in the crash.
Rescuers, including military and police personnel, were trying to reach the crash site via land routes on Friday.
The plantation area was owned by an Indonesian palm oil company, Citra Mahkota, and the helicopter belonged to Matthew Air Nusantara, Syafii said.
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