Cheetah helicopter crash in Arunachal Pradesh: An Indian Army helicopter crashed near the Mandala hills area of Arunachal Pradesh on Thursday. Search operations are on to find missing pilots. Lt Col Mahendra Rawat, PRO Defence Guwahati, told news agency ANI that an Army Aviation Cheetah helicopter was out on an operational sortie and reportedly lost contact with the air traffic control (ATC) at around 09:15 am today.
Lt Col Rawat said, “An Army Aviation Cheetah helicopter flying an operational sortie near Bomdila, Arunachal Pradesh was reported to have lost contact with the ATC at around 09:15 am today. It is reported to have crashed near Mandala, West of Bomdila. Search parties have been launched.”
Going ahead, Arunachal Pradesh Police said that an Army chopper lost contact midway and could not be located while on its way to Missamari from Senge village. The local police added villagers from the Bangjalep area informed them of a helicopter crash at around 12:30 pm.
It further said that two pilots were on board and that search and rescue teams of the Army, SSB, and police have already left for the spot. As per the local police, photos of the area are not available as of now due to a lack of connectivity. It added that the weather in the area is extremely foggy with only 5 metres of visibility.
“Two pilots were on board. Search & rescue teams of the Army, SSB, and police have already left for the spot. As of now, no photos are available as the area has no signal. Weather today is extremely foggy and visibility is 5 meters,” Arunachal Pradesh Police confirmed.
(With ANI inputs)
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