ARMY HELICOPTER CRASH
STATE TIMES NEWS
KATHUA: The Indian Navy divers on Wednesday joined the search operation for two pilots of an Indian Army’s ALH Dhruv helicopter that crashed into Ranjit Sagar lake in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kathua yesterday, the officials said. The search operation to trace the missing pilots of an Army helicopter that crashed into the Ranjit Sagar dam lake in Kathua continued on the second day.
The crash occurred on Tuesday morning. The rescue operation was suspended last night and resumed today morning.
The dam is located about 30 kilometers from Pathankot in Punjab and the lake in which the helicopter crashed is shared by both Punjab and J-K governments.
Deep sea divers of the Navy are also a part of the operation, the officials said.
The depth of the crash site has been measured to be over 200 feet.
Some pieces of the helicopter were found on Tuesday after forces and boats were mobilised for the search operation, Kathua Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) R C Kotwal had said.
Eyewitnesses had said that the chopper was flying over the lake when it suddenly came down and crashed into the water.
During Tuesday’s search operation, a helmet, two big size bags, one pair shoe, I-cards and some helicopter parts were recovered.
As per Army sources, the initial reports on Tuesday from the ground suggested that the missing pilot and co-pilot have been recovered safely from the chopper.