Governor, VIPs survive chopper crash
Governor, VIPs survive chopper crash
Yemris Fointuna, The Jakarta Post, Kupang
An Army helicopter carrying a number of top local officials
crashed in Maluku province on Tuesday, after its tail hit a
building during takeoff, the military said.
Although several crew members and passengers suffered minor
injuries and the aircraft's tail and rotor were badly damaged,
everyone on board the Bell 412 chopper survived the accident.
The helicopter went down on Wetar island in West Southeast
Maluku regency at about 11:45 a.m. local time, around five
minutes after taking off from the Iwoki soccer field, said
spokesman for the Wirasakti Military Command in Kupang, East Nusa
Tenggara, Capt. Kuwat.
He said that as the chopper was hovering about 15 meters above
the ground, it was hit by a strong wind and the pilot decided to
make an emergency landing.
But, it later hit a house and plummeted, Kuwat added.
Aboard the ill-fated chopper operated by the Udayana Military
Command were Maluku Governor Karel Alber Ralahalu, Patimura
Military commander Maj. Gen. Syarifuddin and Maluku Police chief
Brig. Gen. Aditya Warman.
Other passengers were the Maluku naval base commander,
Maluku's chief prosecutor, the regent of West Southeast Maluku
and a businessman.
The aircraft crew members were pilot Major Lisman, co-pilot
First Lt. Yudi M. Dili, mechanics First Sgt. Mustajab and
avionics engineer Second Sgt. Dwi Yulianto.
The governor and his entourage were traveling back from an
official trip to Kupang, where they discussed measures with East
Nusa Tenggara Governor Piet A. Tallo on Monday to fight illegal
logging and timber smuggling to neighboring East Timor.
The group was using the helicopter to observe firsthand sea
routes used by timber smugglers from several islands in West
Southeast Maluku.
The crash was the latest in a series of military chopper
accidents over the past few months, which were mostly blamed on
bad weather.
On Dec. 25, 2004, Indonesia Military (TNI) Commander Gen.
Endriartono Sutarto ordered that all TNI helicopters be
temporarily grounded the day after a helicopter crash in
Wonosobo, Central Java, in which 14 Air Force personnel were
killed.
On Dec. 24, a Navy helicopter plummeted into a river in
Nabire, Papua, killing five. In October, eight military personnel
were killed when an Army Bell 205 helicopter crashed in Bireuen,
Aceh.