3-member committee to probe Arunachal CM's chopper crash

The civil aviation ministry has set up an inquiry committee to probe the circumstances under which the Pawan Hans chopper crashed killing Arunchal Pradesh chief minister Dorjee Khandu and four others on Saturday.

"A committee of inquiry headed by Air Marshal (Retd) PS Ahluwalia has been appointed to look into the circumstances of the accident of the helicopter near Labootang, Arunachal Pradesh, on April 30 while going from Tawang to Itanagar," the civil aviation ministry said in a release.

The 3-member committee has been asked to submit its report in three months.

Ahluwalia, with an experience of over forty years in the IAF, retired as the head of Western Air Command's chief in 2008.

The other two members of the inquiry team are Group Captain (retd) TV Unnikrishnan and PK Chattopadhyay. Senior air safety officer AK Joseph will be the secretary of the committee.

The committee will investigate and determine the cause and contributory factors leading to the accident and make recommendations to avoid recurrence of such incidents, it added.

The committee has been asked to take assistance from other experts and agencies, if required, it said.

The copter carrying Khandu and four others had gone missing on Saturday and crashed in bad weather in the mountains and their bodies and the wreckage were located yesterday.