Indonesian Army Mi-17 crashes on a forest-fire mission in Kalimantan, killing three crew

An Indonesian Army Mi-17V5 transport helicopter crashed on 4 November while collecting water for a forest-fire bombing run in Central Kalimantan, killing three of the eight soldiers on board, according to army officials and Indonesian civil aviation authorities.

The aircraft, registration HA-5235, belonged to the Army Aviation Center and was flying for the air task force fighting forest and land fires in and around Tanjung Puting National Park. It came down in waters off Sungai Perlu village in the Danau Sembuluh district of Seruyan regency at about 11:18 local time.

The regional military command spokesman, Colonel Dodo Sahata Manullang, said the helicopter had left Kuala Pembuang at about 09:55 local time bound for Telaga Pulang, and ran into trouble while taking on water for a water-bombing drop. An initial AirNav Indonesia report cited by the transport ministry gives a departure time of 10:20 and says the crew switched their target area to Pematang Limau because of the weather. The two accounts agree on the time of the crash.

The three soldiers killed were the pilot in command, Lieutenant Colonel Dudi Firmansyah, the co-pilot, Captain Nurhafiz Akbar, and a crew member, Sergeant Heri Prasetyo, according to the crew list reported by VOI and a condolence message from the Ahmad Yani army aviation airbase. Five other crew members were rescued and taken for treatment, with at least one flight engineer reported injured and admitted to hospital in Kuala Pembuang.

Major General Zainul Arifin, who commands the Kodam XXII Tambun Bungai regional command, confirmed the accident and said the helicopter had been assigned to water bombing around the national park. He and his spokesman set off from Palangka Raya for the remote crash site, a trip the command expected to take around 10 hours.

The army sent rescue teams by air and by water immediately after the crash, and said its priority was getting every crew member out and treated. The transport ministry said two of the bodies were later flown from Kuala Pembuang to Semarang aboard an army CASA 212 transport aircraft, while Kuala Pembuang airport set aside facilities and staff for the evacuation.

The cause of the accident has not been determined and remains under investigation, the army said. Because the Mi-17V5 is a state aircraft operated by the army, the civil aviation directorate said further information on the crew, the recovery and the cause would come from military authorities, and it urged the public not to spread unverified reports.

Lieutenant General Kristomei Sianturi, head of the National Disaster Management Agency, offered condolences on 5 November and called on Indonesians to support the personnel fighting fires on the ground. He also asked the public to stop open burning of forest and farmland, which he said makes the firefighting work harder.

VOI described the Mi-17 as a heavy transport helicopter. In the army account, the crew was drawing water from waters near the fire zone so it could be dropped on hotspots inside the park, and the army said the trouble began during the water pick-up itself.

The disaster agency chief made his appeal as forest and land fires continue in parts of Indonesia, with army personnel and aircraft committed to the firefighting effort in Central Kalimantan. The crash means three army aviators lost during a domestic support mission rather than a combat or training sortie.