IAF recovers wreckage of crashed chopper

"The wreckage was lifted from deep marshy ground just 15 kms from the border", he said, adding "now the experts are working on it to know what happened to the ill-fated Mi-8".

The spokesman said "we have brought the wreckage out without losing any clues."

Determining the cause of the crash has assumed significance in view of one of the key five survivors, Swaran Singh, of the BSF Intelligence corroborating that he had spotted four to five Pakistani fishing boats before a blast brought down their chopper.

The BSF official said that those onboard the chopper were going back to BSF post at Karimshahi to fetch winching equipment to lower somebody to have closer look at the boats, when there was the mysterious blast in the chopper.

They said it was essential that experts had "good look at vital portions of the submerged chopper like the fuselage, engine and the body before coming to judgement on the cause of the crash".