13 killed as army helicopter crashes in Indonesia

JAKARTA - An Indonesian army helicopter with 19 people on board crashed on Saturday in Malinau in North Kalimantan, killing 13 people and seriously injuring 6 others, an army spokesman said.

The helicopter MI-17 went down in deep forest in Malinau on the border between Indonesia and Malaysia at 10:30 am local time when it lost power, Sepri Jasodin, spokesman of Indonesian army, told Xinhua by phone.

"13 people were dead and 6 others seriously burned who are being treated in a hospital in Tarakan," he said.

"All the bodies will be evacuated to Tarakan," he added.

The helicopter departed from Tarakan to Malinau, carrying construction workers and materials for the building of a border checkpoint, said Jasodin.