New Delhi: An Indian Air Force (IAF) helicopter crashed near Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh, killing all the seven soldiers of the board.
That, according to the IAF, the Mi-17 V5 helicopter was on an air maintenance mission at an altitude of 17,000 feet, when it crashed about 6 AM. The Chopper was flying to Yangtse to drop off kerosene jerry cans at the Army camp.
The Seven burnt bodies, including pilots, co-pilots, flight engineers and two army officers, were found at the accident site near the border with China.
An official said, “One of the kerosene cans opened and get entangled in the tail rotor.” As per the sources say.
The Wing Commander B. Upadhyay, Squadron Leader S Tiwari, Master Warrant Officer AK Singh and Sergeants Gautam and Satish Kumar and army personnel HN Deka and E Balaji died in the incident.
A Court of Inquiry has been ordered to decide what was the cause of the accident. Arunachal Pradesh has a history of accidents due to bad weather
In the month of July, an IAF helicopter crashed on the rescue operation during the flood, killing four people. Earlier this year, two IAF pilots had crashed near the Assam-Arunachala border in the Sukhoi-30 jet.
The Russian-made MI-17V5 helicopter is the backbone of the Air Force. More than 150 such helicopters are in service and 48 additional demands have been made. Mi-17 can take a significant payload at high altitude and is a very powerful engine.
This tragedy was found in place one day before Air Force Day celebrations.
On this occasion, in the press conference yesterday, Air Chief Marshal BS Dhanoa talked about air accidents in the recent years.
The Air Chief said, “Our loss in peaceful times is the cause of concern. We are making concerted efforts to reduce accidents and to secure our assets,”
