Jaipur: Two Army officers from Rajasthan were killed following the crash of an Advanced Light Combat helicopter of the Indian Army in Arunachal Pradesh's Upper Siang district, officials said on Saturday, adding another jawan -- also from Rajasthan, is still missing.
There were 5 persons including two pilots in the ill-fated helicopter that crashed on Friday.
Major Vikas Bhambu of Jaipur, and Major Zakiuddin Bohra of Udaipur were killed in the crash.
Rohitashv Khairwa, a resident of Khairwa ki Dhani near Posana village in Udaipurwati area, could not be traced even on the second day.
Commanding Officer Nitin Chaudhary called Rohitashv's wife and informed about the accident. He said: "Sorry... we could not save anyone. Search is on for the missing jawans."
A few hours before the crash, Khairwa spoke to his wife Subhita on Friday morning and promised to come home after Diwali. He was working in the technical wing of the Army.
The crash took place about 25 km from Tuting headquarters.
Those engaged in the escue operations are facing difficulties due to lack of proper road connectivity to crash site.
The crash took place on Friday morning in Migging village, around 25 km from the district headquarters. The helicopter, which took off from Likabali (in Assam), was on a regular sortie.
Defence spokesman Lt. Col Mahendra Rawat said that the weather was good for resuming the search operations on Saturday.
"The pilots had more than 600 combined flying hours on ALH-WSI and over 1800 service flying hours between them. The aircraft was inducted into service in June 2015.
"Prior to the crash, the Air Traffic Control had received a 'May Day' call suggesting a technical or mechanical failure," he said.
—IANS
