“A marine, who is with the army search team, found him floating and hanging on to a few water hyacinth to survive for the past two days”, a member of special force searching for the chopper, Colonel Fachri, told reporters on Tuesday.
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The Indonesian helicopter carrying five people lost contact with the traffic control during its flight over Sumatra island on Sunday (Oct 11).
The civil helicopter was carrying a pilot, an engineer and three passengers, he said.
It took off from Samosir in Sumatra’s north at 11.33 a.m. (0433GMT) and should have arrived at Kualanamu global Airport on the island’s northeast coast just over an hour later.
The man, named in local reports as Fransiskus Subihardayan, was rushed to hospital after being found conscious but very weak, and wearing only a black watch, in Lake Toba, into which the aircraft is believed to have plummeted, on western Sumatra island.
“But he used hand gestures… telling officers that four other passengers remain in the waters of Lake Toba”, Budi said.
“This morning, the search will be focused in that location”, Heronimus Guru said.
The incident comes only a week after a Twin Otter turboprop plane operated by Aviastar crashed into the rough terrain of Mount Latimojong, Luwu District, South Sulawesi.
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Indonesia has a poor aviation safety record and has suffered major disasters in recent months, including plane crashes in December and August in which more than 200 people died.
