Goa: Navy copter crashes, 3 killed
Two naval officers and a sailor died on Monday morning when their helicopter crashed in Goa’s Dabolim airport.
Naval sources said that the Chetak helicopter, which was on a routine sortie from Mumbai to Bengaluru, was making a scheduled refuelling stop at the INS Hansa naval base in Goa.
“A rotor of the four-seater helicopter broke while landing and the machine crashed and immediately caught fire,” said a Navy spokesperson at INS Hansa.
All three occupants, Lieutenant Commander D. Singh, Lieutenant Commander Rahul Tiwari, both pilots and sailor H. Krishna died in the incident.
The crash, which took place at 9.51 am, damaged the only runway at the Goa airport and commercial flights were halted till the debris could be cleared.
While the families of the pilots reside in Navy Nagar, the sailor lived alone in Mumbai.
An acquaintance of Lt. Commander Singh within the Western Naval Command described him as an “excellent and upright officer”.
Another naval officer requesting anonymity said, “The incident is unfortunate; after all Chetaks are one of the most reliable helicopters… I don’t even remember when a Chetak with the naval fleet, crashed the last time.”
The Navy spokesperson said that a board of inquiry has been ordered to ascertain the causes behind it. This is the first crash involving a naval helicopter this year. The Navy operates more than 60 of the ageing Chetak and Cheetah helicopters and has been looking for replacements.
The force has recently issued a tender for procuring 56 twin-engine light utility helicopters from foreign vendors.
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