Toll in Army helicopter crash in Arunachal Pradesh rises to 5

The bodies of the four other personnel were recovered on Friday evening from the crash site in a densely wooded mountainous area, around 35 km from the border with China, defence spokesperson Lt Col A S Walia said.

The deceased Army personnel were identified as pilots Major Vikas Bhambhu and Major Mustafa Bohara, CFN Tech AVN (AEN) Aswin K V, Havildar (OPR) Biresh Sinha and NK (Ppr) Rohitashva Kumar, he said.

The cause of the crash is not yet known and details are being ascertained, the officer said.

“It is reported that the weather was good for flying operations. The pilots had more than 600 combined flying hours on ALH-WSI and over 1,800 service flying hours between them. The aircraft was inducted into service in June 2015,” he said.

Prior to the crash, the Air Traffic Control (ATC) had received a ‘May Day’ call suggesting a technical or mechanical failure, he said.

“This will form the focus of the Court of Inquiry, which has been immediately constituted to investigate the causes of the accident. Names of the personnel will be released after notification to the next of kin,” Lt Col Walia said.

‘May Day’ call refers to distress signal conveyed to an aircraft crew to the ATC or ground staff.

The Army helicopter, also known as HAL Rudra, had taken off from Likabali in Lower Siang district.

The Indian Army offered deepest condolences to the bereaved families and said it stands firmly with them.

The helicopter was inducted into service in June 2015.

The accident involving the ALH in Migging came two weeks after a Lt Colonel from the Army’s aviation wing was killed and his co-pilot suffered severe injuries when their Cheetah helicopter crashed in a forward area near Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh.

Between March 2017 and December 2021, 31 people lost their lives in accidents involving 15 military helicopters that included four ALH, four Cheetah, two ALH (WSI), three Mi-17V5, an Mi-17 and a Chetak, according to official details.

The ALH (WSI), also known as Rudra Mark IV, is a potent attack helicopter, designed and developed by state-run Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) to fill very niche roles in the Indian Army and the Indian Air Force.

The Indian Army’s aviation wing has been deploying the WSI variant of the Advanced Light Helicopter Rudra in the region, adding more teeth to its tactical missions in view of the lingering border row with China in eastern Ladakh.

The multi-role helicopter of 5.8 Ton class is an armed version of the Advanced Light Helicopter Dhruv. The indigenously-designed and developed ALH-Dhruv is a multi-role, multi-mission new generation helicopter