Seven military men die in helicopter crash

Seven military personnel, including two pilots, died in a helicopter crash near Arunachal Pradesh's Tawang on Friday. The crash took place a day after Air Force Chief BS Dhanoa expressed concern over peacetime losses. A court of inquiry has been ordered, IAF sources said.

The Mi-17 V 5 helicopter of the IAF was on an air maintenance mission, carrying supplies to a forward post of the Army in the hilly terrain. "It crashed close to the dropping zone and caught fire immediately," a statement from the IAF said.

The chopper took off from the Khirmu helipad near Tawang and was on its way to Yangste. Five IAF personnel and two Army men were killed in the crash near Tawang, close to the China border, around 6:30 am.

The dead have been identified as Wing Commander Vikram Upadhyay, Squadron Leader S Tiwari, Master Warrant Officer AK Singh, Sgt Gautam and Sgt Satish Kumar of the Air Force and Sepoys E Balaji and H N Deka of the Army.

The rescue operations took place at a height of 17,000 feet above sea level as the bodies were recovered by a joint team of the IAF and the Army amid hostile conditions.

This is the second incident involving IAF helicopters in Arunachal Pradesh in three months. An Advanced Light Helicopter had crashed at Saglee in Papum Pare district on July 4, claiming the lives of all four on board.

Earlier in May, two pilots of a Sukhoi fighter jet died as their aircraft crashed after taking off in Assam's Tezpur.