ITANGAR, 16 Mar: Two pilots on board a Cheetah helicopter of the Indian Army were killed when it crashed near Mandala in West Kameng district on Thursday morning, a defence spokesperson said.
The deceased officers have been identified as Lt Col VVB Reddy and his co-pilot Maj Jayanth A, he said.
Defence spokesperson Lt Col Mahendra Rawat said in Guwahati that the helicopter was on an operational sortie from Missamari in Assam’s Sonitpur district to Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh.
The flight encountered “inconducive weather” and was returning to Missamari when it crashed, he said.
“The helicopter lost contact with the air traffic control at around 9:15 am. Five search parties of the Indian Army, the SSB and the ITBP were immediately launched. The wreckage of the aircraft was found near Banglajaap East village of Mandala,” Rawat said.
“A court of inquiry is ordered to ascertain the cause of the accident,” he added.
SIC SP Rohit Rajbir Singh said that villagers had found the crashed chopper ablaze in Dirang, and informed district officials.
“Villagers from Bangjalep in Dirang located the chopper at around 12:30 pm,” Singh said.
The area has no mobile connectivity and the weather is extremely foggy with visibility as low as five metres, he said. (PTI)
