Co-pilot killed, pilot injured in army chopper crash near LoC

An army Cheetah helicopter — on the way to pick up sick personnel — crashed in Gurez area of north Kashmir on Friday afternoon, killing the co-pilot and injuring the pilot, said an official privy to the development

An army Cheetah helicopter — on the way to pick up sick personnel — crashed in Gurez area of north Kashmir on Friday afternoon, killing the co-pilot and injuring the pilot, said an official privy to the development.

The helicopter was going to pick up sick personnel in the Baraub area of Gurez, located close to the Line of Control. (Representational photo)

The helicopter was going to pick up sick personnel in the Baraub area of Gurez, located close to the Line of Control.

A defence spokesman said that the helicopter crashed before evacuating the sick Border Security Force (BSF) jawan . The deceased was identified as Major Sankalp Yadav, 29. The army did not identify the injured pilot.

“An army Cheetah helicopter crashed in Baraub area of Gurez in Bandipora district this afternoon, while on a routine mission to evacuate an ailing soldier from a forward post. The helicopter lost communication with the forward post at Gujran, Baraub,”Srinagar-based defence spokesman Col Emron Musavi said.

Following the incident, a search operation on foot was immediately launched by the army alongside search and rescue helicopters which were pressed into service, said the spokesman.

“The wreckage of the crashed helicopter was found in a snow-bound Gujran nallah area of North Kashmir’s Bandipora. Pilot and the co-pilot of the helicopter were grievously injured in the crash and were immediately evacuated to the hospital,” the spokesman said.

It crashed around 11:30 am with officials saying that it drifted away while descending and tumbled into the nallah flowing nearby.

“The pilots were responding to a medical emergency of the force. I am pained beyond words and I salute the dedication and bravery of the pilots who undertake such difficult evacuation operations,” BSF Inspector General (Kashmir Frontier) Raja Babu Singh said.

The spokesman said that co-pilot Major Sankalp Yadav succumbed to his injuries at 92 Base Hospital in Srinagar. “The injured pilot is critical, however stable, and is presently in the ICU at the 92 Base Hospital,” said the spokesman.

Major Sankalp Yadav was commissioned in 2015 and was a resident of Jaipur, Rajasthan. He is survived by his father.

With inputs from agencies