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Last Update: Sunday, April 3, 2005. 4:44am (AEST)

The Department of Defence has confirmed that nine Australian Defence Force personnel are missing, presumed dead, after a helicopter crash on the Indonesian island of Nias.

An Australian navy Sea King helicopter from HMAS Kanimbla crashed on approach to a village in the south of the earthquake-stricken island yesterday at about 7:30pm (AEST).

"Two Australian Defence Force personnel have been recovered from the crash site of the Navy Sea King, however another nine ADF personnel on board the crashed helicopter are missing presumed dead," a statement said.

The incident was the deadliest involving the Australian military since 18 servicemen died when two Black Hawk helicopters collided during a training exercise in Queensland state in June 1996.

The Australian Associated Press (AAP) earlier quoted Commander George McGuire, the captain of the Kanimbla, saying that nine of the 11 people on board the helicopter died when it crashed on an approach to the island's remote west coast.

Commander McGuire said two on board the helicopter survived and were airlifted back to the Kanimbla for emergency surgery by the ship's second helicopter, which landed with a medical team after seeing smoke from the crash site.

"They are in a serious condition with leg fractures and other injuries," Commander McGuire was quoted as saying by an AAP reporter on board the Kanimbla.

"We believe the rest of the personnel died," he said, adding they included seven men and two women.

The Kanimbla was heading towards the area to try to reach the downed aircraft, the Australian defence spokesman said.

An Indonesian army helicopter was dispatched to the crash site, said Binahati Baeha, the senior government official in the Nias port of Gunung Sitoli.

Indonesian air force spokesman, First Marshal Sagom Tambun, said residents in the Amandraya region in the far south of the island reported seeing the crash.

"The witnesses said that the Sea King helicopter was attempting to conduct an emergency landing in Amandraya subdistrict but it did not go smoothly," he said.

Commander McGuire earlier told reporters that two helicopters had been sent to Teluk Dalam after a powerful aftershock struck the quake-battered region on Saturday.

There "were a large number of casualties" in the town but it was unclear if they were from the aftershock or Monday's larger quake, he said.

The helicopters would "make an initial assessment and subsequent to that we will be evacuating patients to our operating team or onto the Singaporean field hospital at the landing zone," he said.

Indonesian officials said there was no information on injuries or damage in the aftershock, which measured 5.8 on the Richter scale.

The UN estimated Monday's quake killed 1,300 people, most of them on Nias.

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A ROYAL Australian Navy helicopter crashed on a rescue mission in earthquake-stricken Indonesia last night, killing nine defence personnel.

Two others were injured when the Sea King helicopter, from HMAS Kanimbla, came down as it was trying to land in a remote part of the devastated island of Nias. Those killed - seven men and two women - were five Navy personnel, three RAAF members and one Army soldier.
The two male survivors were airlifted from the crash scene and were being operated on last night aboard the Kanimbla.

"They are in a serious condition with leg fractures and other injuries," Kanimbla\'s Commander George McGuire said. The Australians had been diverted to Nias only days before they were due to return home after three months in Sumatra helping victims of the Boxing Day tsunami.

The Sea King carried an emergency medical team and was looking for casualties of last week\'s earthquake in rugged country that had not been visited by relief workers. Another Sea King following its did not see the crash but arrived minutes later to find the burning wreck of the chopper with bodies trapped inside.

The Defence Department said in a statement in Canberra that the crash occurred at approximately 7.30pm Australian time.

"\The helicopter, from HMAS Kanimbla, was conducting a sortie in support of Operation Sumatra Assist (Phase 2), the Australian Defence Force\'s humanitarian contribution to the earthquake relief effort," the Defence Department said.

This reporter from The Sunday Telegraph on board the Kanimbla heard of the crash 26 minutes after it had happened. She heard a radio message: "\Problem with chopper. No survivors." The accident happened at 4.30pm local time and the light was said to be okay for flying.

Experts said it was thought mechanical failure was the most likely cause of the crash.

Shattered crew members on the Kanimbla cried and bowed their heads in shock in the ship\'s mess room when they heard the news of the deaths.

The accident is the worst loss of life in a peacetime military helicopter crash since 1996, when 18 soldiers were killed when two Army Blackhawks collided on a training exercise in Queensland.

The Kanimbla\'s helicopters were to be used to distribute food, water and medical supplies.

With the island\'s airstrip destroyed, aid had been trickling in slowly and heavy earthmoving equipment needed to shift rubble had been stuck on the mainland.

The Navy personnel killed in last night\'s crash should have been home and reunited with their loved ones after three months in Indonesia.

Kanimbla, with its 60 medical personnel, was already in Singapore after its rescue and rebuilding efforts following the Boxing Day tsunami when it was turned back to help Indonesia through its latest natural disaster.

Commander McGuire received the order to divert to Nias following last week\'s tragic earthquake.

The ship\'s Sea King helicopters were deployed to Nias to evacuate those most in need of urgent medical attention - for treatment on board the vessel, which has two operating theatres.

HMAS Kanimbla was originally built for the US Navy and acquired by the Navy in 1994.

Along with HMAS Manoora, the Kanimbla underwent extensive modifications for new roles as helicopter-capable amphibious transports. Their primary roles are to transport, lodge ashore and support an Army contingent of 450 troops and their vehicles and equipment.

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Defence Force Chief Peter Cosgrove today confirmed that nine Australian military personnel, comprising six from the navy and three from the air force, had died in the Kanimbla helicopter crash.

Lieutenant General Cosgrove also confirmed at a press conference the dead were seven men and two women.

Four were air crew and the rest were medical relief specialists, he said.

He said early media reports of an army person being among the casualty list were incorrect.

Kanimbla's captain, Commander George McGuire, said two male personnel survived the crash and were undergoing surgery on board the Kanimbla after sustaining serious injuries.

"They are in a serious condition with leg fractures and other injuries," Cmdr McGuire said.

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Chopper suffered engine failure: witnesses
By Indonesia correspondent Tim Palmer and staff

An investigation is underway into the cause of the helicopter crash that claimed the lives of nine Australian Defence Force personnel on the Indonesian island of Nias.

Witnesses say the helicopter's engine died while it was 30 or 40 metres above the ground before it crashed cockpit first into a football field.

The inquiry is expected to examine whether over-work and stress contributed to the crash.

HMAS Kanimbla, on which the helicopter was based, will continue to help with relief efforts for the victims of the Indonesian earthquake.

Two men survived the accident and are being treated for fractures on HMAS Kanimbla, which is off the island of Nias.

Chief of the Defence Force, General Peter Cosgrove, says efforts are being made to bring home the bodies of the dead.

"This, we believe, will not be possible before Tuesday at the earliest," he said.

The Indonesian President, who will start a visit to Australia today, has offered to provide any assistance necessary to help that process.

Crash witnesses

Villagers told the ABC they began signalling for help to the Australian helicopter as it flew overhead.

It then circled their village twice and then made a low approach towards the football field.

They say that around 30 or 40 metres before it was over the football field they heard the engine die and the helicopter crashed cockpit first into the field.

Residents of the village rushed to the wreckage to attempt to rescue those on board but they say it caught on fire within five or 10 minutes of the crash.

The blackened wreckage, now no more than 1.5 metres high, is strewn across the football field with the cockpit nose cone thrown some 20 metres free.

The crash is the deadliest military accident since 18 servicemen died in the crash of two Black Hawk helicopters in 1996.

Gen Cosgrove says no arrangements have yet been made to provide another Sea King helicopter and crew for the ship.

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The Royal Australia Navy has lost Lieutenant Mathew Davy and Lieutenant Paul Kimlan from the ACT, Lieutenant Jonathan King from Queensland, Lieutenant Matthew Goodall, Petty Officer Stephen Slattery and Leading Seaman Scott Bennett from New South Wales.

Members of the Royal Australian Air Force who died in the accident were Squadron Leader Paul McCarthy from Western Australia, Flight Lieutenant Lyn Rowbottom and Sergeant Wendy Jones from Queensland.

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