A Cheetah helicopter of the Army crashed near Line of Control (LoC) in Tulail sector of north Kashmir’s Bandipora district on Friday, killing the co-pilot and critically injuring the pilot, officials said.
The helicopter, on a routine mission to evacuate an ailing soldier from a forward post, lost contact at Gujran, Baraub area of Tulail, 200 kms from here, they said. A search operation was immediately launched by the Army and rescue helicopters were pressed into the service.
The wreckage of the crashed helicopter was found in the snow-bound Gujran Nallah, while the pilot and his co-pilot, who was injured in the crash, were immediately evacuated to the Command Hospital, Udhampur, officials said.
However, co-pilot, Major Sankalp Yadav died of his injuries at the hospital while the injured pilot is critical, they said and added the slain Major was commissioned in 2015 and was a resident of Jaipur, Rajasthan.
Last year in September, two pilots were killed in a similar accident after an Army helicopter landed on the hills of Shiv Dhara near Patnitop in the Udhampur district of Jammu.
The Cheetah helicopter is a high-performance chopper designed for operation over a very wide range of weight, centre of gravity and altitude conditions. The five-seater Cheetah helicopter holds the world record in high altitude flying among all categories of helicopters.
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(Published 11 March 2022, 08:21 IST)
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