7 die in copter crash off Mumbai

Seven people including five senior officials of the Oil & Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) and two pilots of Pawan Hans Helicopters were killed when the chopper in which they were flying crashed off the Mumbai coast, on Saturday.

The Pawan Hans helicopter a Dauphin, VT PWA which was on its way to the Mumbai High offshore development area of ONGC took off from the Juhu aerodrome around 10.30 am and lost contact with the Air Traffic Control nearly 10 minutes later.

Immediately, a massive search and rescue (S&R) was launched by the Indian Navy and Indian Coast Guard ships and aircraft were launched from Maharashtra and Gujarat.

The debris was spotted around 1 pm, nearly 22 nautical miles from Uttan Lighthouse off Gorai along the Thane-Palghar districts.

So far, five bodies have been recovered which was initially kept on board ICGS Agrim and then on an ONGC vessel from where it was airlifted by two choppers.