Guwahati: A helicopter belonging to the private chopper service company, Pawan Hans, disappeared on Tuesday morning, in the heavily forested Tirap district of Arunachal Pradesh.
An Arunachal Pradesh government official said four people, including the Tirap district DC were on board the Daulphin N3 helicopter when it lost touch with Air Traffic control 30 minutes after taking off at around 11 am.
There were two pilots, one crew member and IAS officer, Kamalesh Joshi on the chopper at the time. They were on their way from Dibrugarh in Assam, to Khunsa in Arunachal Pradesh. The flight plan was to continue on to Longding after landing in Khunsa.
An official confirmed the loss of the chopper, saying, “The chopper lost touch with Air Traffic Control on the way to Longding from Khunsa.”
An IAF rescue team was reported to have spotted helicopter-like objects in the dense forests of Tirap district.
Rescue teams, including the army, IRBn, IAF, local police and local administration started an operation in the thick forest to locate the missing chopper, but at the time of filing this report, there was still no word it had been located.
Another six Pawan Hans employees were reported arriving in Naharlagun in Arunachal Pradesh on Wednesday.
Pawan Hans operations base is Juhu Aerodrome, Vile Parle, Mumbai. The company provides helicopter services to various state governments throughout India, especially in the North-east. It also services ONGC off-shore locations.
Pawan Hans choppers
