Indonesia helicopter crash kills one off Borneo

An Indonesian military helicopter carrying eight people on a firefighting mission crashed in waters off Borneo on Wednesday, killing one crew member, the army said.

The helicopter had taken off from Seruyan district in Central Kalimantan province to fight fires in Tanjung Puting National Park, the army said. The park is home to wildlife including critically endangered Bornean orangutans.

The army said the accident happened while the helicopter was scooping seawater for water-bombing. Five people were rescued alive, but the statement gave no details about the condition of the two remaining crew members.

The cause of the crash is under investigation.

Indonesia has relied on ground firefighters and air operations as wildfires have burned across Sumatra, Borneo and Papua. Deforestation monitor Nusantara Atlas said fires razed more than 1.9 million hectares in the nine months to September this year.

The Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air, a Helsinki-based think tank, estimated that smoke pollution from this year's fires caused 3,560 deaths in Indonesia in September alone. Indonesia's health ministry said Wednesday that more than 400,000 people had been treated for acute respiratory ailments caused by toxic haze.