Uttarakhand chopper crash: All 19 bodies recovered
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New Delhi: Air Chief Marshal N.A.K Browne on Wednesday said that all the 19 bodies of those who died in a horrific air crash in Uttarakhand on Tuesday were recovered.
Speaking to newspersons on his arrival at Dehradun to visit the crash site, the Air Chief Marshal said the cockpit voice recorder of the rescue helicopter has been recovered. He said the rescue mission would continue despite the crash. He said the pilots have all been well trained, but harsh weather conditions were responsible for the crash.
Brown also said that the morale in the IAF was high and the operations would continue round the clock. Latest reports said that the Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR) of the Mi-17 had been recovered and was sent to a a Chandigarh lab to extract data.
Those who died included personnel from the Indian Air Force, National Disaster Response Force and the paramilitary Indo-Tibetan Border Police were feared dead in an IAF helicopter crash on Tuesday.
The new Mi-17 V5 helicopter crashed north of Gaurikund, Uttarakhand, while returning from Kedarnath to Gauchar on Tuesday afternoon.
The helicopter was on the return leg of a rescue mission. Reports said it was on its third sortie of the day when it went down.
According to NDRF sources, it was carrying aviation turbine fuel to sustain the rescue operations of the IAF in the hill-state. It burst into flames after crashing.
According to NDRF sources, those feared dead include nine NDRF personnel and six ITBP personnel. ITBP sources confirmed that six of their personnel had been on board the ill-fated helicopter.
The IAF said, “One Mi-17 V5 helicopter of the IAF on a rescue mission from Gauchar to Guptkashi and Kedarnath on return leg from Kedarnath has crashed north of Gaurikund... Eight persons on board, including five crew members, sustained fatal injuries. While a court of inquiry has been ordered to investigate the accident, the IAF’s rescue operations continue.”
This is the second incident of a helicopter crash this week in the hill state.
A private helicopter carrying relief materials for the rain-affected people in Rudraprayag district had crashed on Sunday near Gaurikund leaving the pilot injured.
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