Helicopter down in Indonesia - BBC

Indonesia helicopter crash: Survivor found in lake

• 13 October 2015
 
• From the sectionAsia

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A survivor has been found in a lake two days after a helicopter crashed in Indonesia.

Fransiskus Subihardayan, 22, was found naked and weak in the volcanic Lake Toba in western Sumatra Island by rescuers.

He was reportedly clinging to floating plants in a lake. The search is continuing for four others on board.

The single-engine light Eurocopter EC-130 crashed during an hour-long flight from Samosir Island to Medan city.

The helicopter lost contact at 12:20 local time (05:20 GMT) on Sunday.

Search and rescue agency official Heronimus Guru said that Mr Subihardayan had told rescuers that all five people on board managed to jump from the helicopter as it went down.

Image copyrightGETTY IMAGES

Image captionWater hyacinth - shown here covering a lake in Sichuan, China - is commonly found on freshwater lakes in Asia

He said all five clung to water hyacinth covering the lake, but that he had been separated from the others by currents.

"He was found very weak and immediately rushed to hospital. Maybe he can tell more when he is strong enough," another agency official, Hisar Turnip, told the BBC.

About 200 personnel are continuing to search for survivors, reports said.

It was the second recent air accident in Indonesia.

Earlier this month a DHC-6 Twin Otter plane crashed in eastern Indonesia, killing all 10 people on board.