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Kathua chopper crash: Submarine rescue unit of Navy being flown in
On August 11, on the ninth day of intense searches since the helicopter crashed into Ranjit Sagar dam in Basohli area of Kathua district, the rescuers had located the wreckage of the ill-fated machine at a depth of nearly 80 metres in the vast lake.
The search operations for Indian Army pilots and the helicopter which had crashed into the Ranjit Sagar Dam on August 3 has intensified with the submarine rescue unit of Indian Navy being flown in to locate the wreckage digitally at a depth of approximately 80 to 100 metres at the bottom of the lake.
“Indian Air Force has lifted heavy equipment from Vishakhapatnam to Pathankot for speeding up the underwater search. Indian Army and all other agencies, including Indian Navy, Indian Air Force, NDRF, Ranjit Sagar Dam Authority, district authorities and locals are sparing no efforts for bringing the operations to a final conclusion,” said defence spokesman Lt Col Devender Anand.
On August 11, on the ninth day of intense searches since the helicopter crashed into Ranjit Sagar dam in Basohli area of Kathua district, the rescuers had located the wreckage of the ill-fated machine at a depth of nearly 80 metres in the vast lake.
“The wreckage of the #ArmyHelicopter that had crashed into the #RanjitSagarReservoir has been identified at a depth of approx 80m from the surface of the reservoir. Heavy duty #RemotelyOperatedVehicles are being flown in to assist the recovery operations,” the Western Command had posted on its Twitter handle.
The families of the two pilots—a lieutenant colonel and a captain, have been reportedly camping at Mamun cantonment on Pathankot. The expanse of the dam is 25km long, 8km wide and more than 500 feet deep.
The Rudra helicopter had crashed into the Ranjit Sagar Dam lake near Pathankot on August 3 around 10.43 am. Built at Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), the chopper was carrying out a training sortie that involved low-level flying over the lake, said a second official.
The helicopter belonged to the Army’s Pathankot-based 254 ALH-WSI squadron, which earlier lost a Rudra chopper in January 2021.
