Helicopter Accident

an Mi-17 helicopter belonging to the Indonesian Army lost contact after departing from Oksibil airport.

The helicopter took off from Oksibil, where it had stopped to refuel, at 11:44 a.m. local time

five minutes after it took off from Oksibil, the helicopter lost contact.

It had 12 members on board, with seven crew members and five members of the Infantry Battalion 725/Waroagi task force

who were being transferred to another post.

a joint search and rescue team comprising military personnel and members of (Basarnas) was deployed on Friday afternoon

to search for the missing chopper.

"At 9:00 p.m. we decided to stop the search because

it was raining really hard in the area.

We will continue the search tomorrow morning,".

Aidi said the helicopter was in good condition when it departed from Oksibil.

The weather that day was forecast as foggy but with clear visibility at around six to seven kilometers.

that the weather at several points along the flight route was changing drastically.

"We still cannot say what really happened but,

when it comes to mountains in Papua, we often see extreme and drastic weather changes,"

The Mi-17 helicopter started its trip on Friday morning,

bringing food and supplies from Sentani to the border security post at Okibab district in Pegunungan Bintang.

the trip occurred monthly because the post could only be reached by air.