Army chopper crashes in Arunachal Pradesh
CM Pema Khandu tweeted his condolences to the family.
The single-engine, multi-role helicopter was flying from Missamari in Assam’s Sonitpur district to Tawang in Arunachal, close to the Chinese border, when it encountered bad weather. It crashed while trying to return to Missamari.
Guwahati-based defence PRO Lt Col Mahendra Rawat said the helicopter was flying near Bomdila in Arunachal when it lost contact with the ATC around 9.15am. Five search parties of the Army, SSB and ITBP set out immediately and the burnt wreckage of the helicopter was found near Banglajaap village, east of Mandala and more than 60km from Bomdila. He said probe was on to ascertain the cause of the accident.
Arunachal Pradesh police special investigation cell SP Rohit Rajbir Singh said villagers saw the aircraft go down and catch fire. They reached the crash site around 12.30pm and found a smouldering, mangled wreck. The remote location is out of network coverage and was enveloped by dense fog Thursday, with visibility as low as five metres, Singh said.
On October 21 last year, an Army helicopter crashed in Upper Siang district, killing all five military flyers aboard. Almost three weeks before that, a Cheetah of the Army crashed near Tawang, killing the pilot.
0 Comments