An Indian Army HAL Dhruv helicopter crashed under unknown circumstances into the water near Ranjit Sagar Dam, Pathankot, Punjab. Search operations for both pilots are ongoing.
Even after day-long efforts, the joint teams of police, Army, and special divers suspended the search operation for the second consecutive day as there was no clue about the missing pilots of the Ranjit Sagar Lake Dam Chopper crash on Wednesday in the Basholi area of Kathua district in Jammu and Kashmir.
“The search operation that resumed with the first light has once again been suspended as there was no clue found about the missing divers in deep waters of Ranjit Sagar Lake Dam,” Sikander Singh, Station House Officer, Police Station Basholi, said.
He said that pilots are still missing and as of now, there are no whereabouts about them, adding, “searches were also carried out in the nearby forest area on the assumption that the pilots might have ejected out of the copter sensing trouble but nothing was found.”
The teams of SDRF are still stationed at the site while NDRF teams, special drivers of the Navy were also pressed into the service, adding, “the Army is planning to rope in special gadgets on Thursday to trace the missing pilots.”
Two pilots of the ALH Dhruv helicopter of the Indian Army went missing after their chopper crashed into Ranjit Sagar Dam on Tuesday morning.
Earlier the search operation was suspended on Tuesday evening, resumed this morning.
Ranjit Sagar Dam shares boundaries with Jammu and Kashmir’s Kathua district, Punjab’s Pathankot district and a portion of Himachal Pradesh.
The Army said that some parts of the chopper, floating on the water, were recovered and specialized forces and divers conducted the rescue operations. It further said that it was an Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH) that took off from the Army’s Aviation Squadron at Mamun Cantonment in Pathankot, Punjab.
The chopper crashed into the deep waters of the Ranjit Sagar Lake. Rescue boats and SDRF teams from the Punjab side were also engaged in the operation.
In January this year also, one pilot had died after an Indian Army helicopter crashed in Kathua district’s Lakhanpur near the Jammu and Kashmir-Punjab border.
The HAL Dhruv helicopter had crashed after developing a technical snag.
