Arunachal: Last body of missing personnel recovered, toll rises to 5; Rescue operation concludes

Guwahati: The toll in the Army helicopter crash in Arunachal Pradesh’s Upper Siang district rose to five with the body of the last missing personnel recovered on Saturday, officials said.

As per sources, the advanced light helicopter (ALH), carrying five Army personnel including two pilots, was on regular sorties after taking off from Likabali, when it crashed near Migging village. The crash took place at 10.43 am on Friday.

However, the four bodies were recovered on Friday from the crash site in a densely wooded mountainous area.

The deceased Army personnel were identified as pilots Major Vikas Bhambhu and Major Mustafa Bohara, CFN Tech AVN (AEN) Aswin KV, Havildar (OPR) Biresh Sinha and NK (Ppr) Rohitashva Kumar, official stated.

Official said that the weather was clear and the pilots were experienced, but the Air Traffic Control (ATC) had received a “may day” call just before the accident, indicating a technical or mechanical issue.

“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,” it said.

“A court of enquiry has been set up to probe the crash”, the official said.

Three joint teams from the army and the air force were engaged in the rescue operation with one Mi-17 and two Dhruv helicopters, there are no motorable roads connecting to the settlement other than a hanging bridge. According to the report, local residents assisted in the rescue efforts.