Two ITBP personnel still untraced a week after chopper crash

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Whereabouts of two ITBP personnel, who were killed in the helicopter crash in Uttarakhand’s Gaurikund during rescue operations, remain untraced even after a week as special troops continued their search for them in the Garhwal ranges of the state.

An elite squad of Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) mountaineers, led by a DIG rank officer, are looking for the two personnel Bassavaraj Yaragatti (Karnataka) and Ahir Rao Ganesh (Maharashtra) who were onboard the Mi-17 chopper that crashed on June 25.

Sources said bad weather and difficult terrains are posing a big challenge for the search teams which are undertaking operations since the day of the crash.

Meanwhile, bodies of seven ITBP/NDRF personnel, who were killed in the same crash, will soon be sent to their homes for last rites after forensic experts today identified their charred bodies with the help of DNA sampling.

A total of 15 men, nine on deputation to the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), of the border guarding force were killed when they were returning by the rescue sortie which went down in the upper reaches of the state.

Five IAF officials were also killed in the same accident.