<p>A Madagascan minister was one of two survivors to have swum some 12 hours to shore Tuesday after their helicopter crashed off the island's northeastern coast, authorities said.</p>.<p>A search was still ongoing for two other passengers after the crash Monday, whose cause was not immediately clear, police and port authorities said.</p>.<p>Serge Gelle, the country's secretary of state for police, and a fellow policeman reached land in the seaside town of Mahambo separately on Tuesday morning, apparently after ejecting themselves from the aircraft, port authority chief Jean-Edmond Randrianantenaina said.</p>.<p>In a video shared on social media, 57-year-old Gelle appears lying exhausted on a deck chair, still in his camouflage uniform.</p>.<p><strong>Also Read — <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/international/world-news-politics/at-least-17-die-60-missing-in-madagascar-shipwreck-1062990.html" target="_blank">At least 17 die, 60 missing in Madagascar shipwreck</a></strong></p>.<p>"My time to die hasn't come yet," says the general, adding he is cold but not injured.</p>.<p>The helicopter was flying him and the others to inspect the site of a shipwreck off the northeastern coast on Monday morning.</p>.<p>At least 39 people died in that disaster, police chief Zafisambatra Ravoavy said Tuesday, in an increase from a previous toll after rescue workers retrieved 18 more bodies.</p>.<p>Ravoavy earlier told <em>AFP</em> that Gelle had used one of the helicopter's seats as a flotation device.</p>.<p>"He has always had great stamina in sport, and he's kept up this rhythm as minister, just like a thirty-year-old," he said.</p>.<p>"He has nerves of steel."</p>.<p>Gella became minister as part of a cabinet reshuffle in August after serving in the police for three decades.</p>.<p><strong>Watch the latest DH Videos here:</strong></p>
<p>A Madagascan minister was one of two survivors to have swum some 12 hours to shore Tuesday after their helicopter crashed off the island's northeastern coast, authorities said.</p>.<p>A search was still ongoing for two other passengers after the crash Monday, whose cause was not immediately clear, police and port authorities said.</p>.<p>Serge Gelle, the country's secretary of state for police, and a fellow policeman reached land in the seaside town of Mahambo separately on Tuesday morning, apparently after ejecting themselves from the aircraft, port authority chief Jean-Edmond Randrianantenaina said.</p>.<p>In a video shared on social media, 57-year-old Gelle appears lying exhausted on a deck chair, still in his camouflage uniform.</p>.<p><strong>Also Read — <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/international/world-news-politics/at-least-17-die-60-missing-in-madagascar-shipwreck-1062990.html" target="_blank">At least 17 die, 60 missing in Madagascar shipwreck</a></strong></p>.<p>"My time to die hasn't come yet," says the general, adding he is cold but not injured.</p>.<p>The helicopter was flying him and the others to inspect the site of a shipwreck off the northeastern coast on Monday morning.</p>.<p>At least 39 people died in that disaster, police chief Zafisambatra Ravoavy said Tuesday, in an increase from a previous toll after rescue workers retrieved 18 more bodies.</p>.<p>Ravoavy earlier told <em>AFP</em> that Gelle had used one of the helicopter's seats as a flotation device.</p>.<p>"He has always had great stamina in sport, and he's kept up this rhythm as minister, just like a thirty-year-old," he said.</p>.<p>"He has nerves of steel."</p>.<p>Gella became minister as part of a cabinet reshuffle in August after serving in the police for three decades.</p>.<p><strong>Watch the latest DH Videos here:</strong></p>