Helicopter crash kills three in C. Sulawesi

JAKARTA (JP): A helicopter belonging to PT Gatari with five crew members aboard crashed into the sea in Donggala, Central Sulawesi, killing three people on Saturday, a press report said yesterday.

A spokesman for that Central Sulawesi office of transportation, Lusty Soegito, said that one person was still unaccounted for and identified the only survivor as co-pilot John Marjono.

He said pilot Abdul Rahman, 45, was still missing and presumed dead. The search continued yesterday, rescue workers finding the bodies of load master Andi Basri, 35, mechanic Soemarno, 44, and Philippine mechanic Roger Victoria, 35.

Mardjono is safe and well, according to the doctors in the Parigi General Hospital who treated him, Antara reported.

Up to yesterday afternoon, search and rescue workers assisted by local residents were still in the dark as to the whereabouts of the pilot and the helicopter.

SAR officials believe the wreckage was swept away by the high seas after first sighting it lying upside down on a coral reef just hours before the search operation was mounted.

"The crash site was located but when we arrived, the wreckage had disappeared," said Karel Sampe, director of the Mutiara airport of Palu who joined in the search with the SAR team.

The Bell 212 helicopter was on its way from the East Kalimantan town of Balikpapan to Gorontalo in Central Sulawesi when it went down five miles off Parigi subdistrict at 3.10 p.m.

One hour before the accident, the helicopter stopped in Palu for refueling. Earlier, the pilot reported engine trouble around 110 kilometers from Gorontalo.

Karel said high waves had complicated the search for the missing crew member. SAR workers yesterday focused their operation on Tomini Bay. (pan)