An Indian Army helicopter with five personnel, including two pilots on board crashed on Friday, in Arunachal Pradesh. Rescue teams have, so far, recovered two bodies from the crash site and efforts are on to find the others.
The Rudra helicopter crashed at 10.43 am.
The remote area is not connected by any roads. Local village folk are engaged in the rescue operation. Three IAF helicopters are engaged in the operation along with Army teams.
“A military helicopter crashed near Singging village, 25 kilometres away from the Tuting headquarters in the Upper Siang district today. Site of accident not connected by road, rescue team sent. Further details awaited,” Defence officials said, adding the helicopter was on a routine sortie.
Upper Siang Superintendent of Police Jummar Basar said the crash site is a mountainous region, and it will take time for the search and rescue team to reach the spot.
This is the second incident of an Army helicopter accident in the State this month. A Cheetah helicopter crashed in Tawang district on October 5, killing one of the two pilots onboard.
Another Cheetah chopper crashed in March near the Line of Control (LOC) in Jammu & Kashmir. The pilot died in this incident.
Rudra is a twin-engine attack helicopter manufactured by the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) for the Indian Army. It is the Weapon System Integrated (WSI) Mk-IV variant of the Dhruv Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH).
Expressing shock over the mishap, Union Minister Kiren Rijiju said in a tweet, “Received very disturbing news about the Indian Army’s Advanced Light Helicopter crash in Upper Siang District in Arunachal Pradesh. My deepest
prayers.”
Chief Minister Pema Khandu, reacting to the accident, wrote on Twitter, “Shocked to hear about the news of @adgpi. Advanced Light Combat Helicopter crash near Tuting area in Upper Siang district of Arunachal Pradesh. The State Government has rushed the rescue team to the accident site and providing all assistance.”
The Indian Army’s aviation wing has been deploying the Weapon System Integrated (WSI) variant of the Advanced Light Helicopter Rudra in the region adding more teeth to its tactical missions in view of the lingering border row with China in eastern Ladakh.
The multi-role helicopter of 5.8 ton class is a multi-role, multi-mission new generation helicopter.
An ALH-WSI had crashed into the massive Ranjit Sagar reservoir near Pathankot on August 3 last year, killing two Army pilots.
In October 2019, a Dhruv helicopter of the Indian Army carrying the then Chief of the Northern Command Lt General Ranbir Singh and other senior officers had crash landed in Jammu and Kashmir’s Poonch.
Between March 2017 and December 2021, 31 people lost their lives in accidents involving 15 military helicopters that included four ALH, four Cheetah, two ALH (WSI), three Mi-17V5, an Mi-17 and a Chetak, according to official details.
The total number of deceased in the 15 accidents included 14 people killed in the December 8, 2021 crash near Coonoor. Then Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Bipin Rawat, his wife Madhulika and 12 Armed forces personnel were killed in the crash.