Indian Air Force helicopter Mi-17 V5 crashes in Arunachal Pradesh on Friday early morning around 6 am and Seven defence personnel are dead confirmed by a senior IAF official.
The Superintendent of Police Manoj Kumar Meena said that the crash happened at five hours away from Tawang district in forested area. Rescue teams reached the crash site in Tawang near the Indo-China border and bodies are being brought to the helipad near Tawang.
TV reports said that the area where the crash happened is a high-altitude area but the Indian Air Force carries out regular training exercises in the area.
India Today report, the chopper which crashed 12 kilometres from India-Tibet border was carrying armed forces to supply on the border and sudden technical problem has lead the crash.
NDTV report, The chopper was on an “air maintenance mission” and Court of inquiry has been ordered to ascertain what caused the crash, IAF authorities told media channels.
News18, The area in which the chopper was flying was dangerous and chopper took vulnerable of weather changes.
Air Chief Marshal B S Dhanoa said, The Mi-17 V5 is a Russian built medium-lift military transport chopper but frequently changing weather condition in Arunachal Pradesh makes flying of choppers difficult in the area and there have been several incidents of crashes in the hill state in the past.
Earlier, Chief Minister of Arunachal Pradesh, Dorjee Khandu and four others also died in a chopper crash in the hill state in 2011.
Even in July 2017, an Indian Air Force chopper had gone missing in Arunachal Pradesh after it took off from Pilputu Helipad near Sagalee for the Naharlagun heliport.
A search and rescue team of the Arunachal Police had found the wreckage of the missing IAF helicopter later and two mutilated bodies near it.
We are sad to know about our people and we are working to deal with such incidents
