American Man Among 8 Missing After Helicopter ‘Lost Contact’ in Indonesia

An American passenger is missing along with seven others after a helicopter disappeared flying over the forests of Indonesia. 

A search operation is being carried out to locate the eight people on board the BK 117-D3 helicopter, which “lost contact” in the Kecamatan Mantewe area in South Kalimantan on Monday, Sept. 1, the National Search and Rescue Agency of Indonesia (SAR) stated in a press release on Instagram. According to The Independent, the helicopter lost contact eight minutes after takeoff.

“The joint SAR team carried out a personnel and equipment briefing at 6.30 a.m. WITA, then moved on to the search sector,” SAR said. “The head of the SAR Banjarmasin office informed that the search area was expanded to 100 nautical miles, by dividing the team into three Search and Rescue Units.”

The Eastindo Air helicopter departed the Kotabaru district in South Kalimantan for Palangkaraya city at 8:46 a.m. on Monday, but failed to arrive after losing contact with air traffic control at 8:54 a.m., ABC News reported. SAR received a report about the missing aircraft at 12:02 p.m., per the outlet.

One pilot, one engineer and six passengers including one American were onboard, per The Independent and ABC News. They were identified as Captain Haryanto, Eng Hendra, Mark Werren, Yudi Febrian, Andys Rissa Pasulu, Santha Kumar, Claudine Quito, and Iboy Irfan Rosa, per the Indonesian outlet Antara News.

Aerial and ground searches are being carried out to find the missing in six major coordinate points around Tanah Bumbu District, SAR shared.

“Search efforts are being carried out more intensively by combining air and land elements,” SAR said, per the release. “Aerial searches are focused on reaching areas hard to reach land, while ground teams conduct direct combing in hilly areas and dense forests.”

Head of the Banjarmasin SAR Office I Putu Sudayana stated there were 140 personnel from various agencies and volunteers involved in the search. Two helicopters from the National Police Headquarters and National Disaster Management Agency are also involved in the search, per Antara News.

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As of the morning of Tuesday, Sept. 2, the eight people missing had not been found.

“The full potential of SAR is deployed to the maximum to accelerate the discovery of helicopters and victims. We hope that with the sector’s pattern, the second day operation can result in a bright spot,” SAR Head Office member Kantorsar Banjarmasin said.

PEOPLE has reached out to Eastindo Air for comment.