Helfi added officers were now focused their search around the location where the man was found, hoping to also quickly locate those still missing.
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“Residents said they saw a helicopter flying low over Lake Toba and heard a crashing sound”, said Gusti Syaiful, the head of the local search and rescue agency.
In the search for the missing chopper this morning, joint teams consisting of 20 SAR personnels from Medan and 20 members from the police mobile brigade, 400 army personnels and five water and air police personnels were deployed to assist the search.
Fransiskus, 22, was found floating on Lake Toba, about 3.2 kilometres from Samosir island, an official said.
The Indonesian helicopter carrying five people lost contact with the traffic control during its flight over Sumatra island on Sunday (Oct 11).
The helicopter, belonging to air transportation company PT Penerbangan Angkasa Semesta, was piloted by Capt. Teguh Mulyanto and had one engineer, Hari Poerwanto, and three passengers on board.
The rescue came after a helicopter seat cushion was found in the lake late Monday.
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The country has a poor aviation safety record and has suffered major disasters in recent months, including the crash of an AirAsia plane in December with the loss of 162 lives.
