The whereabouts of the two pilots who were on-board the ill-fated chopper of Pawan Hans that crashed on Wednesday evening is still not known even as the search and rescue operation by the Indian Navy and Coast Guard continues in the Arabian Sea.
Search ops
“A coordinated search by Indian Navy and Coast Guard ships and aircrafts and divers is currently in progress to locate the survivors and debris. Debris located is being collected and investigated,” an official of the Western Naval Command said on Thursday evening.
At about 7:15 pm on Wednesday, the Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre, Mumbai received information from Coast Guard Dornier on surveillance sortie off Offshore Development Area about ditching of Pawan Hans Limited helicopter.
A Dauphin make (AS 365 N3) helicopter, with two pilots onboard, ditched into the sea near an ONGC oil platform named “SLQ” located about 80 nautical miles west of Mumbai. There were no passengers on board.