A colonel and two majors were killed when an Army helicopter on a routine sortie crashed while flying over the mountainous terrain of Dzukou valley in the Nagaland-Manipur border area on Wednesday, officials said.
The deceased pilots were identified as Major Nikhil Prakash and Major Rakesh Sharma while the passenger of the Cheetah helicopter was Colonel P.K. Pal, Defence PRO R.K. Palta told PTI.
The bodies were found by a rescue team comprising village youths, the police and Army men from near the wreckage of the helicopter lying in the mist-covered thick jungle of the valley near Viswema village, about 25 km south of here.
The helicopter had left the Army's 3 Corps headquarters Rangapahar near Dimapur at 8.25 am to Limakong near Imphal on a routine sortie. But it lost ground contact while flying over the mountainous terrain of Dzukou valley, Palta said.
The chopper crashed at around 8.45 am possibly due to poor visibility caused by bad weather, officials said. Palta said an inquiry into the incident was ordered.
The villagers of Viswema had heard the sound of crash in the morning. Later in the afternoon they along with police and Army personnel spotted the site and retrieved three bodies after scaling the mountainous terrains.
Policemen, accompanied by the villagers recovered the bodies from the forest, Kohima SP Rothilhu Tetseo said. Inclement weather prevailed in the area for the past couple of days following incessant rains.