A water-bombing helicopter crashed into the Barito River at Tabatan Village in Barito Kuala Regency, South Kalimantan, on Sunday, November 8, 2026, while helping fight forest and land fires. The aircraft was a Eurocopter EC225LP Super Puma with registration VH-HGM, contracted by Indonesia's national disaster agency BNPB. Amateur video shows it scooping water from the river with a Bambi Bucket, then losing control and plunging nose-first into the water, leaving wreckage partly submerged. Officials said the accident happened around 11:56 a.m. local time, while the crew was collecting water for the firefighting mission.

Three crew members were on board, two foreign nationals and one Indonesian. Early reports said all three had survived, and residents rushed to help at the scene, but later updates changed the picture. Two crew members were rescued safely, while the Indonesian crew member was reported missing, and the search team later recovered one body, confirming a fatality. The cause of the crash has not been determined, and Indonesia's Transportation Ministry has said it is supporting the response and the search effort. Readers will want to know what caused the helicopter to lose control, how safe these low-altitude water-scooping operations are, and what changes may follow for the wider fire response.