Seven Defence personnel, including five Indian Air Force officers and two from the Army, were killed after the chopper they were travelling in crashed along the India-China border in Arunachal Pradesh on Friday around 6.30am.
Tezpur-based Defence spokesman lt Col Smobit Ghosh confirmed the incident and said that the helicopter crashed at a remote jungle area near Tawang. A court of enquiry has already been ordered to ascertain the cause of the accident, he said.
“The MI-17 V5 helicopter was on a routine maintenance mission when tragedy struck. The crash site is located close to five hours drive from Tawang. There were seven people on board. While five were IAF officers, two were from the Indian Army,” Ghosh said.
Tawang District Superintendent of Police MK Mina said that the bodies have been retrieved from the crash site and were sent to Army’s 4 Corps headquarters in Tezpur. “From Tezpur, the bodies would be sent to their respective homes,” he said.
It may be mentioned here that Arunachal Pradesh has witnessed several chopper crash in the past mainly due to inclement weather.
In July this year, four people including three IAF officers and one India Reserve Battalion (IRB) personnel were killed in a chopper crash at Papum Pare district of the State. The chopper was on a flood rescue mission.
In 2011, then Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Dorjee Khandu and four others were killed in a chopper crash and it took several days for the rescue workers to locate the crash site due to dense forest and inclement weather conditions.