Arunachal chopper crash: Search, rescue ops ends with recovery of 5 body mortal

The search and rescue mission of the helicopter crash concluded with the recovery of the fifth and last body on Saturday.

Earlier on Friday, a military chopper crashed near a Singging village 25 kilometers away from the Tuting headquarters in the Upper Siang district of Arunachal Pradesh at 10:43.

Meanwhile, the search operation was conducted by three columns of army personnel one on MI17 and two ALH choppers.

According to Defence PRO, Guwahati, Advanced Light Helicopter (Weapon Systems Integrated) – ALH WSI based at Likabali (Assam) crashed when five personnel were on board.

Moreover, the chopper carrying five personnel had taken off from Likabali in the Lower Siang district.

According to the defense PRO, the mortal of the four military personnel were recovered and one was missing.

To probe the crash a court of inquiry has been constituted and will check on the ‘May Day’ call received by Air Traffic Control (ATC) which suggests a technical or mechanical failure on the chopper.

The statement of the Defence PRO reads, “Prior to the crash, the Air Traffic Control (ATC) had received a MAY DAY call suggesting a technical or mechanical failure. This will form the focus of the Court of Inquiry, which has been immediately constituted to investigate the causes of the accident.”

However, on 5 October 2022, a Cheetah helicopter crashed near the Tawang area of Arunachal Pradesh in which an Indian Army pilot lost his life.

“The Cheetah helicopter flying in forwarding areas near Tawang crashed at around 10:00 AM during a routine sortie. Both the pilots were evacuated to the nearest Military Hospital,” Army officials had said.