Gunmen attacked a helicopter carrying 29 workers and family members from Freeport-McMoRan's trouble-plagued gold and copper mine in eastern Indonesian on Saturday, wounding one person, officials said.
The attack came as thousands of unionized employees were preparing to return to the Grasberg mine in the mountains of Papua province following a three-month strike that has crippled production at the sprawling operation.
Though the 8,000 striking workers were supposed to be back on the job Saturday after management agreed to a 37 percent pay hike, union spokesman Juli Parorrongan said plans were pushed back so the two sides could iron out last minute details.
It was not immediately clear who was behind Saturday's attack or what the motive may have been.
Those on the Hevilift chopper did not appear to be tied to the work stoppage.
Unidentified gunmen opened fire minutes after liftoff from the mining town of Tembagapura, said Papua Police spokesman Sr.Comr. Wachyono.
With only slight damage to the body of the aircraft, the Russian pilots were able to continue on to Timika, where they landed safely