Soldier is found alive weeks after helicopter crash

Indonesian was on the aircraft when it flew over Borneo

JAKARTA // A soldier aboard a military helicopter that crashed in a remote Indonesian jungle more than two weeks ago has been found alive, an army spokesman said yesterday.

Yohanes Syahputra was found in an exhausted state late on Thursday by villagers on Borneo island.

“Thanks be to God almighty, we have found one of the passengers of the downed helicopter,” said the military spokesman, Sabrar Fadhilah. “The victim was found with wounds on his hands, waist and legs, and was weak because he had not eaten in days.” Mr Syahputra was aboard a Bell 412 helicopter with four other military personnel when it lost contact on November 24 over a remote stretch of Borneo jungle, according to the army. The wrecked chopper was found three days later, having crashed during a delivery run to a remote army post near the Malaysian border.

It had gone down deep in the forested, mountainous interior of Borneo, very far from any major city. Three crew were found dead and only one alive. The crash site was so difficult to reach that the surviving airman had to be winched out by rope, the military said.

Mr Syahputra, however, was nowhere to be seen and the army feared he had died, as the terrain was deemed too inhospitable for human survival.

The soldier was only discovered when a farmer found him resting at a hut on the outskirts of a plantation, where he had reportedly been eating sugar for sustenance.

He was taken to a villager’s home in Long Sulit and offered food and water. Army spokesman Mr Fadhilah said Mr Syahputra would be taken for medical examinations at a hospital in Tarakan, one of the main cities on the north- east coast of Borneo.

The military has closely guarded the details surrounding the crash – only the latest this year for Indonesia’s accident-prone military – and the discovery of Mr Syahputra.

Twelve people were killed in March when a military helicopter went down in bad weather on Sulawesi in central Indonesia.

In July, three were killed when another military helicopter crashed into a home in Central Java.