Chopper flies low, goes down into waters with thud
*Broken parts, other belongings recovered
Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Aug 3: A Dhruv helicopter of the Army with pilot and co-pilot on board went out of control and crashed into Ranjit Sagar dam at village Purthu in Basohli tehsil of Kathua district this morning within minutes after taking off from Mamun Cantonment in Pathankot for security recce ahead of Independence Day celebrations and drone attacks.
Late this evening, Chinook helicopter from New Delhi carrying Navy divers joined para-divers of Army besides State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) in tracing the pilot and co-pilot, However, till late tonight, both of them remained untraced.
SSP Kathua Ramesh Kotwal told the Excelsior that the rescue operation continued throughout the day and was called off at 7.30 pm today due to darkness. It will resume early tomorrow morning, he said, adding the bodies haven’t been recovered so far.
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Some debris of Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH) and belongings of the pilot and co-pilot including one helmet, two pithoo bags and one pair of shoes were seen floating over the dam waters this evening.
Sources told the Excelsior that Dhruv helicopter took off from Mamun Cantonment in Pathankot at 10.30 am for routine security recce as an alert had already been sounded in Jammu and Kashmir and Punjab in view of upcoming Independence Day celebrations and drone sightings along the International Border.
Eye-witnesses at village Purthu said they saw the helicopter flying extreme low over the village and then suddenly it went down into Ranjit Sagar dam with smoke and big bang.
“As the helicopter drowned, water was seen flowing out of the dam,” the eyewitnesses said, adding they immediately contacted local police which swung into action and launched the search operation.
Soon para-divers of the Army reached the spot and launched search operation for pilot, co-pilot and helicopter. The SDRF personnel also joined the operation. With no breakthrough, the Special Navy divers were also flown to the spot from New Delhi who joined the operation immediately.
However, till late tonight when the reports last came in from village Purthu in Basohli tehsil, there had been no trace of pilot as well as co-pilot. But in the evening, some portion of crashed Dhruv helicopter, two pithoo bags, one helmet and one pair of shoe were seen floating over the dam waters and were gathered by the divers.
“Recovery of some parts of ALH Dhruv indicated that the helicopter broke into pieces during the crash which fell into the dam waters,” sources said, adding at the site of crash the dam water is as deep as 200 feet and therefore it was taking time to trace the pilot and co-pilot who were on board the helicopter.
As per the reports, the Navy divers have gone quite deep into the waters but so far couldn’t trace the pilot and co-pilot. Searches continued till late tonight.
Apart from the divers, senior officers of Army, civil administration and police were also camping in the village supervising rescue operations for the pilot and co-pilot and trace remaining parts of the helicopter.
There was no official statement issued by the Army here regarding the crash. Locals, however, said they saw the helicopter flying very low in Purthu village. Some of them said they also saw smoke billowing out of the helicopter before it went down into the waters of Ranjit Sagar dam with a thud.
Army, however, confirmed that the crashed helicopter was Advanced Light Helicopter Dhruv and was carrying only two persons including the pilot and co-pilot.
“It was on security recce,” they added.
The Army is likely to order an inquiry into the chopper crash after rescue operation is completed.
SSP Kathua Romesh Kotwal is camping at the spot along with police officials monitoring rescue operation for missing pilot and co-pilot. Local people are also helping the divers.
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