Indonesia helicopter crash: Eight killed in Borneo minutes after takeoff

A tragic helicopter crash at Borneo Island Indonesia has took eight lives on spot miniutes after the aircraft tookoff.

Officials informed aircraft was en route to another palm oil plantation in the Kubu Raya district.

As reported on Friday April 17, the Indonesian officials shared that the Airbus H130, operated by PT Matthew Air Nusantara, lost contact on Thursday, just five minutes after departing from the Melawi district in West Kalimantan province.

While Searching for the wreckage , rescue teams located and recovered the bodies of the two crew members and six passengers from dense forests in the Sekadau district.

National Search and Rescue Agency confirmed casualities while the Transportation Ministry identofied one of the victims as Malaysian.

Borneo is the third-largest island in the world and is split between Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei. The crash occurred in the larger Indonesian portion of the island.

Notably, Indonesia has witnessed several accidents in recent years.

The major cause of such transportational accident is that the country has a poor aviation safety record with several fatal accidents in recent years.

Previously a helicopter crash in September 2025, claimed eight lives as it crashed in South Kalimantan province, killing all on board.

Additionally, another incident followed a turboprop plane chartered by fisheries ministry- crashed into a mountain on the island of Sulawesi in January, killing all 10 people on board.