The Indian Coast Guard on Tuesday recovered the bodies of two of its personnel who went missing after their Dhruv advanced light helicopter (ALH Mk-III) went down into the Arabian Sea near Porbandar. One of the crew on board, a flight diver, was rescued earlier in the day, and the search for the pilot was still on till late evening.
The bodies of Commandant Vipin Babu and diver Karan Singh were recovered while search is still on to trace another pilot, Rakesh Rana, said Coast Guard spokesperson, Amit Uniyal. “Of the total four crew members on board the ICG’s advanced light helicopter (ALH), diver Gautam Kumar was rescued soon after the incident while a search was on for three others – one pilot and two divers. On Tuesday night, the bodies of pilot Vipin Babu and diver Karan Singh were recovered,” he said.
The doomed helicopter was launched for a medical evacuation mission on Monday night following an emergency on board a tanker and ditched into the sea 15 minutes later at about 11.15pm. Ditching refers to an aircraft making an emergency landing in water.
The same helicopter was recently at the centre of the rescue and relief work in flood-ravaged Gujarat. “The Indian Coast Guard ALH, which saved 67 lives during the recent cyclonic weather in Gujarat, was launched around 2300 hrs on 02 Sep 24 for medical evacuation of a seriously injured crew on board Indian flagged motor tanker Hari Leela, about 45 km from Porbandar, in response to a request received from the master of the vessel,” the Coast Guard said in a statement.
at least five Coast Guard vessels and a few helicopters were deployed in the area to locate the missing Commandant Rakesh Rana, said one of the officials cited above, asking not to be named.
The flight diver was recovered safely on Tuesday morning after the ALH’s wreckage was found.
The two bodies found by the search and rescue squads were of the helicopter’s co-pilot, Deputy Commandant Vipin Babu, and another flight diver, said a second official, who also spoke on the condition of anonymity.
Preliminary information revealed that the helicopter (Tail Number CG 863) went into the sea nose down, the officials said. The helicopter belonged to the Coast Guard’s Porbandar-based 835 Squadron.
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