13 die as Indonesian army helicopter crashes in jungle

Thirteen people died when an Indonesian army helicopter carrying construction workers to build a military outpost crashed in the jungles of Borneo and burst into flames Saturday.

The helicopter was carrying 19 crew and construction workers, as well as building materials, en route to the outpost in Malinau district, North Kalimantan province, near the Malaysian border.

But as the aircraft came in to land, its back rotor blades suddenly started spinning out of control and the helicopter smashed into a cliff, said local military commander Dicky Wainal Usman.

The Russian-made, Mi-17 aircraft was completely burnt out following the accident in the remote area, said military spokesman Iskandar Sitompul in Jakarta.

It was just the latest deadly aircraft accident in the sprawling Indonesian archipelago, which relies heavily on air transport to link its many islands but has one of Asia's poorest aviation safety records.

"Thirteen people died in the crash while the rest suffered burn injuries," Sitompul told AFP.

Wainal confirmed that six people survived, four of whom had serious burns and two had more minor burns.

An army spokesman, Rukman Ahmad, said: "An Mi-17 helicopter was involved in an accident near outpost Bulan. It was carrying construction workers to build the outpost."

Eight of those who died were civilian construction workers, while five others were crew members, who were military personnel, said Sitompul.

The aircraft had picked up the construction workers in Apau Ping village before heading to the outpost, which was nearby.

The military will conduct an investigation and planned to search the area on Sunday morning, Wainal said.

He said that officials' initial suspicion was that the helicopter, which had been in operation since 2010, crashed because of the rotor issue and bad weather.

The area is so remote it can only be reached by helicopter or river, an AFP reporter on Borneo said.

Borneo is a vast, biodiverse island shared between Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei, covered in lush jungle and home to rare animals such as orangutans.

There have been numerous fatal air crashes over the years in Indonesia and some have involved military aircraft.

Last year an air force jet crashed into a military housing complex in the capital Jakarta and sparked a huge fire, killing all seven crew members and four people on the ground.

In 2009, four people were killed after an Indonesian navy aircraft crashed into a swamp on Borneo.

Earlier that year, at least 101 people died when an Indonesian military transport plane carrying soldiers and their families crashed into homes and erupted in flames.