Ten people are dead after a helicopter chartered by an Australian mining company crashed in eastern Indonesia.

The helicopter went down Wednesday shortly after taking off from the city of Manado on Sulawesi island. A search and rescue team reached the wreckage Thursday morning.

Ten passengers and crew were on board, including two Australians, two South Africans and six Indonesians. One of the Indonesians was still alive when rescuers reached the site but he was reported to have died of his injuries at a hospital.

The helicopter was heading to the Gosowong mine on the island of Halmahera, which is owned by Newcrest Mining Limited. The aircraft was chartered by a company jointly owned by Newcrest and Indonesia's PT Aneka Tambang.

The cause of the crash is still unknown.