Military Chopper Crashes In Arunachal Pradesh's Migging, Four Bodies Recovered

Arunachal Pradesh Chopper Crash: An Army helicopter crashed in Migging in Arunachal Pradesh, search operation underway, Defence official said.

Representative Photo ( Image Source :PTI )

New Delhi: A military chopper crashed near Migging village, 25 kms away from the Tuting headquarters in the Upper Siang district in Arunachal Pradesh, killing four out of five military personnel aboard. The mortal remains of the four people have been recovered and search operation for the remaining one is underway, news agency ANI reported.

Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH) crashed near the Tuting area in Arunachal Pradesh's Upper Siang district today at around 10:40 am, according to Defence PRO, Guwahati.

Jummar Basar, Superintendent of Police Upper Siang, told news agency ANI, "The site of the accident is not connected through road. A rescue team has been rushed and all other other details are awaited."

The army has deployed three helicopters in the search and rescue mission.

Migging is a very remote area in the Upper Siang district of Arunachal Pradesh, which is south of Tuting. As per early inputs, this helicopter took off for a routine sortie from Lekabali Military Station in Assam.

According to the Army's 3 Corps based in Dimapur (Nagaland), a joint team of Army and Air Force was deployed to find the chopper. According to Lt Col Amarindra Walia, Regional Spokesperson of the Ministry of Defense in Tezpur, Assam, one Mi-17 and ALH (Advance Light Helicopter) have been pressed into the search and rescue operation.

After installing weapons in the indigenous ALH helicopter, the Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH) was named ALH-WSI i.e. Weapon System Integrated. The army has also named it 'Rudra' and it is a combat-attack role helicopter. 

After the crash, a purported video showed smoke was seen bellowing in a very dense forest on a distant mountain.

Earlier on October 5 this year, an Indian Army pilot lost his life in a Cheetah helicopter crash near the Tawang area of Arunachal Pradesh. "The Cheetah helicopter flying in forward areas near Tawang crashed at around 10:00 AM during a routine sortie. Both the pilots were evacuated to the nearest Military Hospital," Army officials had said.

(With Inputs By Neeraj Rajput)