Two pilots and an Army officer were killed when a Cheetah helicopter went missing shortly after taking-off from an Army base in Nagaland and crashed into the forest of Dzukou Valley along Manipur-Nagaland border on Wednesday.
Kohima superintendent of police Rothilhu Tetseo said that policemen with the help of villagers have succeeded in tracing the crash site and recovered the bodies of two pilots and an Army officer who were flying in the helicopter.
The villagers had spotted the Army helicopter falling down.
Defence sources said that the Cheetah helicopter had taken off from the Army’s 3 crops headquarters at Rangapahar near Dimapur at about 8.25 am for Imphal on a routine sortie.
“It lost ground contact when it was flying over the mountainous terrain of Dzukou Valley and crashed,” said the defence spokesman at Tezpur. The Cheetah helicopter crashed about five km from Vishwema village near the Manipur-Nagaland border at about 8.50 am.
The crash is suspected to have taken place due to bad weather.
The Army has withheld the identity of the three persons.
A court of inquiry has been ordered into the mishap.