Eight individuals have been k!lled shortly after a helicopter crashed into a thick jungle.

On Thursday, April 16, as the aircraft began its flight over Borneo’s extensive palm oil plantations, it disappeared from radar.

Five minutes after taking off from Melawi district in West Kalimantan province, PT Matthew Air Nusantara’s Airbus H130 lost contact. In the Kubu Raya district, it was en route to another palm oil plantation.

Searchers later located the wreckage and recovered the bodies of the two crew members and six passengers in the forests in Sekadau district, according to the National Search and Rescue Agency and the Transportation Ministry. 

All eight on board were men and one was a Malaysian national, civil aviation director general Lukman F. Laisa reportedly said in a statement. The bodies were taken to the provincial capital of Pontianak. 

“The joint search and rescue team had successfully located the crash site of the aircraft and, based on information from the field, all passengers and crew members have been confirmed de@d,” he said.