One pilot killed, another injured as Army chopper crashes in Arunachal
Darpan News Desk IANS, 05 Oct, 2022 12:55 PM
Itanagar, Oct 5 (IANS) A pilot was killed and another injured when a Cheetah helicopter of Army Aviation crashed near Arunachal Pradesh's Tawang on Wednesday, officials said.
Defence spokesman Lt. Col Mahendra Rawat said that the Cheetah helicopter, which was on a routine sortie, crashed at around 10 a.m. injuring both the pilots and they were immediately evacuated to nearest Military Hospital.
"With regret to inform that one of the pilots Lt Col Saurabh Yadav, who was critically injured, succumbed to the injuries during treatment.
"The second pilot is under medical treatment. The cause of the crash at this stage is not known. Details are being ascertained," he said.
Expressing his deep shock, Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu offered all assistance.
"Pained by the news of crash of helicopter at Nyamjang Chu near BTK area of Jemeithang circle in Tawang district. I am in touch with the Army officials for every possible assistance, and pray for speedy recovery of the injured pilots," he tweeted.
Eastern Army Command chief, Lt General R.P. Kalita also expressed his deep sorrow over the accident.
"Lt General Kalita and all ranks offer tributes to the supreme sacrifice of Lt Col Saurabh Yadav in the line of duty on 05 Oct 2022 while flying a Cheetah Helicopter near Tawang, Arunachal Pradesh. Eastern Command offers deepest condolences to the family," a defence statement said.
Union ministers Piyush Goyal, Dharmendra Pradhan, Pralhad Joshi, Anurag Thakur, Bhupender Yadav, V. Muraleedharan and Arjun Ram Meghwal held a joint press conference at the Shastri Bhavan here on Thursday and condemned the 'unruly' and 'violent' behaviour of the opposition parties led by the Congress.
Chief Ministers of Congress-ruled states as well as where the party is in power as part of an alliance, including Tamil Nadu's M.K. Stalin (DMK), Maharashtra's Uddhav Thackeray (Shiv Sena) and Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren (JMM) will also be invited.
Besides, the All India Congress Committee, the Maharashtra and Mumbai verified Congress handles, that of Congress Legislative Party leader and Revenue Minister Balasaheb Thorat, Mumbai Congress President Bhai Jagtap, state party social media head Abhijeet Sapkal, and around 500 other leaders at various level have been blocked on Twitter.
Meanwhile, the wreckage of the state roadways bus that fell into a 500 metre deep gorge following the massive landslide was recovered this morning, rescuers said.
Senior Home Ministry officials on Thursday reviewed the status of the investigations in the two rape cases in Delhi with officials of the Delhi Police. The review was done on the instructions of Union Home Minister Amit Shah, the officials said.
All agencies such as the Crime Branch, Intelligence Bureau, Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) unit, Harayana Police Commandos and Government Railway Police (GRP) have been placed on high alert.
