A Seaking helicopter of the Navy with 13 naval personnel on board caught fire this morning soon after landing at the airport here during a routine sortie.
"All 13 personnel including the three crew member on board the aircraft escaped unhurt and the fire was extinguished using the resources at Mangalore airport," an Indian Navy spokesperson said.
An investigation has been ordered to ascertain the cause of the incident, he said. "The aircraft was on a routine mission en-route to Mumbai and had landed at Mangalore," he said.
Based at Kochi and Mumbai, Seaking are multi-role choppers and are used for various roles such as anti-submarine warfare and search and rescue operations in deep sea. Procured from United Kingdom, Indian Navy started inducting these aircraft in its aviation branch in mid-80s and these are operated both from shore-based naval aviation bases and ships.