Indonesian military helicopter on wildfire mission crashes off Borneo, killing 1

An Indonesian military helicopter carrying eight people on a firefighting mission crashed in waters off Borneo island on Wednesday, killing a crew member, the army said.

The Southeast Asian archipelago has for months been struggling to control wildfires that have burned through large swathes of Sumatra, Borneo and Papua islands, causing choking haze that drifted to neighbouring Malaysia, East Timor and Singapore.

The helicopter took off on Wednesday morning from Seruyan district in Borneo’s Central Kalimantan province to fight fires in the Tanjung Puting National Park, an army statement said.

The park is home to animals including critically endangered Bornean orangutans.

“The accident occurred while the helicopter was scooping seawater for water-bombing,” the statement said.

“The cause of the incident is still under investigation.”

One crew member was killed while five others were rescued alive, the army said.

The statement did not provide any details about the condition of the two remaining crew members.

Aside from ground-based firefighters, Indonesia has also relied heavily on air operations to put out fires that have razed more than 1.9 million hectares (4.7 million acres) in the nine months to September this year, according to deforestation monitor Nusantara Atlas.

The government has not confirmed or rejected the number.

The fires are driven in part by a strong El Nino weather phenomenon, which in Indonesia typically causes drought.

Experts say deforestation, peatland drainage and illegal slash-and-burn land clearing by timber, palm oil or mining companies are at the root of the destruction.

Pollution from the blazes caused an estimated 3,560 deaths in September alone, while about 57.8 million people across the country inhaled unhealthy to hazardous air that month, according to the Helsinki-based Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air.

More than 400,000 people in Indonesia have been treated for acute respiratory ailments caused by the toxic haze, the health ministry said on Wednesday.

The government on Wednesday defended its approach to the fires, saying in a statement more than 72,000 people had been deployed in cloud-seeding and firefighting operations, more than 2,100 doctors and health workers activated in hard-hit areas, and 5.3 million masks distributed.