Jakarta – Most of Indonesia's senior military officers in the troubled territory of East Timor died on Thursday in a helicopter crash, a military official said.
Eleven people died. Lieutenant-Colonel Supadi, chief-of-staff of the East Timor military region, told Reuters by telephone from the East Timor capital Dili that there was only one survivor in the crash of the army helicopter at 10:25 a.m. (0225 GMT) in mountainous terrain.
"There were 11 killed. The head of the Udayana military command Major-General Yudomo was one of the victims. The East Timor army chief Colonel Slamet Sidabutar was also killed," Supadi said.
"Only one survived, the head of the information section in East Timor, but he has serious injuries," he added.
The dead included Sidabutar's assistants for intelligence and operations, the commander of the territory's eastern sector, the head of operations at the local military district, Yudomo's adjutant as well as the helicopter's pilot, copilot and support crew. Supadi did not mention what type of helicopter crashed.
"They were on a working visit with the new military region chief (Yudomo)," Supadi said.
Yudomo took over as commander of the Udayana region, which stretches from the island of Bali to Timor, after his predecessor Major-General Syharir was promoted to head the Kopassus special forces.
That was part of a series of changes in the top positions in the army two weeks ago in the wake of former president Suharto's resignation.
Supadi blamed the crash on bad weather and said the helicopter exploded into flames after hitting a mountain while travelling from the north coast town of Baucau across the rugged interior to Viqueque on the island's south coast.
It had left Dili on an island-wide tour in the morning, he said. "The weather was bad and it crashed into the side of the mountain and burst into flames. Only the tail was left," he said.
He said the accident had no connection with anti-Indonesian guerrillas active in the area and sheltering in the mountains of East Timor.
Details of the exact crash site were not yet available but Supadi said it was remote and only accessible on foot after a one-hour hike from the nearest road.
[According to a June 4 posting by Tapol, unconfirmed claims are being made that the helicopter was brought down by Falintil or by an act of sabotage from within the army. Tapol's sources say that the sky was clear and the crash occurred soon after take-off following an explosion on board - James Balowski.]