Army chopper goes missing

An Indian Army helicopter on a routine training exercise with two pilots and two jawans on board went missing today. All communication with the helicopter was lost while it was flying over north Sikkim near the Chinese border. The helicopter belonged to the Army Aviation Corps.

Om Singh,Indian Army spokesperson,said,“All communication with the helicopter was lost at 11.20 am. It was last contacted and located near a valley in east Sikkim. The area is densely forested and it was snowing badly. A search party was sent from the army base,but we cannot contact them because of inclement weather. There were two officers and two jawans on board the chopper.” According to sources,the Advance Light Helicopter ‘Dhruv’ of Army Aviation Corps took off from the Sewak Road Base in Siliguri in north Bengal,from where the army conducts routine training exercises to Sikkim’s borders with China,at 10.30 am. The base is under 33 Corps Headquarters based in Siliguri. Dhruv is an indigenously-developed helicopter inducted in the army only recently.

The helicopter lost communication when it was around 14,000 feet above the ground near Shivmandir in east Sikkim. The area is 15 km above above Lachung village in north Sikkim. Because of heavy snowfall and inaccessible terrain,only an aerial search can trace the chopper,the sources said. Asked about the identity of the officers and jawans on board,the official said,“Until we are able to visit the spot or establish contact with the search party,we cannot disclose any information about them.”