Sydney, Nov 22 (IANS): One man has died and another hospitalised after a helicopter crashed in a remote area of Australia.

Police in the Australian state of New South Wales (NSW) said in a statement that the male passenger, believed to be in his 40s, was treated by ambulance crews but died at the scene, Xinhua news agency reported.

The pilot, a 39-year-old man, was treated for minor injuries before being taken to a hospital in Melbourne.

The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) reported the two men were traveling in a US-registered Super Puma helicopter when it crashed shortly before midday local time on Friday near the small town of One Tree, approximately 600 km west of Sydney and 400 km north of Melbourne, in NSW.

The Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) said that it received a distress signal from the helicopter at about 10 a.m. local time. In response, AMSA sent a rescue aircraft and air ambulance helicopter to initiate a search.

A local skydiving aircraft assisting with the search located the crash site.

The crashed helicopter was traveling between the NSW towns of Broken Hill and Albury, a journey of approximately 680 km, at the time of the crash.

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau said it would investigate the crash.