Team News Riveting
Itanagar, October 21
An Indian Army indigenously-built Dhruv helicopter crashed in the Upper Siang district of Arunachal Pradesh early on Friday morning fearing five casualties of the personnel on board.
The location of the crash has been reported to be near the Singging village located in the Upper Siang District of the Northeastern state of Arunachal Pradesh. The crash site is said to be around 25 km away from the Tuting headquarters and the rescue operations are turning out to be almost impossible as the densely-forested location does not have any road connectivity.
Officials said five people were on board the twin-engine indigenously-developed helicopter belonging to the Army Aviation wing at the time of the crash. At about 10.43 am on Friday, a weapon system integrated version of an Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH) of the Indian Army crashed at Migging village in Upper Siang district of the border state.
Sources said search and rescue teams sighted at least three bodies, of which two could be recovered till 4 pm. Efforts are currently underway to recover the third body in the completely burned wreckage. The teams have, however, been unable to locate two more bodies so far.
Sources said two pilots, identified as Major Vikas Bhambu, QFI, and Major Mustafa along with three technicians, were onboard the HAL (Rudra version) that took off from Likabali town and crashed at a location not connected by any road. The site is about 35 km from the border with China.
“A military chopper crashed near Singging village, 25 kms away from the Tuting headquarters in the Upper Siang district today. Site of accident not connected by road, rescue team sent. Further details awaited,” the Defence PRO told a news agency.
Local residents and police joined the Army and the Indian Air Force (IAF) in the high-altitude treacherous region to launch a massive search and rescue operation.
Upper Siang Superintendent of Police Jummar Basar said the crash site is a mountainous region, and it would take time for the search and rescue teams to reach the spot.
This is the second incident of an Army helicopter crash in Arunachal Pradesh this month. On October 5, an Indian Army pilot lost his life when a Cheetah helicopter crashed near Tawang area of Arunachal Pradesh.
