Seven Air force personnel including the pilot and co-pilot were killed on Friday when an AlH Dhruv-370 helicopter in which they were flying from Bareilly to Allahabad crashed in Sitapur in Uttar Pradesh.
District Magistrate of Sitapur, JP Singh, and other senior officers rushed to the spot soon after getting information about the crash. “According to our information, there were seven people on board. As per the reports received from officials, no one appeared to have survived,” he said. The chopper had taken off from Bareilly at 3.53 pm and crashed around 5 pm, an IAF spokesperson said.
Senior officers also tried to contact the Air Traffic Control (ATC) room in lucknow as the pilot reportedly made contact just before the crash for emergency landing due to some technical snag. According to IG (law and Order) Amrendra Sengar while flying over Sitapur, the AlH Dhruv-370 developed some snag after which the pilot tried to make an emergency landing at Panditpurwa locality of Atariya, about 50-kilometres from lucknow but the chopper crashed.
A Wing Commander, a Squadron leader, a Junior Warrant Officer, a sergeant and an lAC were among those killed in the crash. An IAF spokesperson in Delhi said the pilot of the chopper had given a ‘May Day call’ (emergency call) before the crash and then lost radio and radar contact. The IAF has ordered a Court of Inquiry and teams have been rushed to the crash site in Sitapur.
The chopper reportedly lost the link with both Bakshi-Ka-Talab Air Traffic Control and lucknow airport before it lost all contacts at about 5 PM . The chopper was tracked from ATC of air force station in Delhi until evening when suddenly the link with the aircraft was lost. The district magistrate also confirmed that the ATC in Delhi as well as lucknow did contact the district administration for information about the chopper.