The body of Indo-Tibetan Border Police personnel Santosh Kumar Paswan who got killed in the chopper crash in Uttarakhand on Tuesday will be brought to his native place on Thursday. Paswan was also one among the 19 rescuers who died in the crash near Kedarnath in Uttarakhand.
“Santosh Kumar Paswan was a resident of Bhakhra village from Satgawan block in Koderma and his body will be brought here tomorrow,” confirmed Koderma SP Hemant Toppo. Paswan got married last year having his father, mother and an elder brother in his family.
“Initially, we were told that my brother had gone missing but today we got the news from mediapersons that he had died in the crash,” said the elder brother of Shivnandan. Body of Paswan will be handed over to his family after being paid last tribute by the district administration on Thursday. “If his body reaches on time here at Koderma, the official tribute will be paid at the headquarters otherwise we will go to his village for the purpose,” Toppo said.
Paramilitary forces on Wednesday recovered 20 bodies from a steep hillside in Uttarakhand where the MI-17V5 helicopter crashed while on a rescue mission of the people stranded in the monsoon floods. The helicopter had crashed late on Tuesday when its rotor blades hit the hillside after a rescue operation. Flooding and landslides have killed more than 1,000 people and washed away thousands of homes, roads and bridges since June 15 in Uttarakhand.
All 20 people on board had been killed in the crash. Five of those killed were from the Air Force; the others belonged to the National Disaster Response Force and the Indo-Tibetan Border Police.