Jakarta, August 04: At least nine people have been killed and a survivor found after a helicopter flying to a mine crashed in Indonesia.
“There were 10 people on board the helicopter, which was transporting eight employees and contractors to the mine and there were two crew,” Newcrest company in charge of the mine said in a statement on Thursday.
The chopper went missing on Wednesday and its debris was discovered near Manado on Sulawesi island a day later in an air and sea search, AFP reported.
The victims included two Australians, two South Africans and five Indonesians. The only survivor is an Indonesian national who was reported to have received serious injuries.
Newcrest, Australia’s largest gold producer, said the helicopter was going to Gosowong mine on the Indonesian island of Halmahera when the incident occurred.
The cause of the crash is not known yet, the company said.
Newcrest chief executive Greg Robinson expressed condolences to the families, colleagues and friends of the victims.
Work at the Gosowong mine has been suspended and some top officials from the company are heading to the place of the incident.
——-Agencies