Indian Army Cheetah chopper crashes in Arunachal Pradesh; 2 pilots martyred

An Indian Army Cheetah helicopter crashed near the Mandala hills area of Arunachal Pradesh on Thursday, March 16. According to sources, the crash site is reported to be Dirang in Arunachal Pradesh. In the incident, two pilots were martyred.

The Indian Army officials stated the incident took place when an Army Aviation helicopter flying an operational sortie near Bomdila lost contact with the Air Traffic Control (ATC) at around 09:15 am on March Thursday. 

#BREAKING | Arunachal Chopper Crash: Both the pilots involved in the crash have lost their lives: Army officials.#ArunachalPradesh #ArunachalCrash #Chopper

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"An Army Aviation Cheetah helicopter flying an operational sortie near Bomdila, Arunachal Pradesh was reported to have lost contact with the ATC at around 09:15am today. It is reported to have crashed near Mandala, West of Bomdila," the Indian Army official said in a press release.

Rohit Rajbir Singh, the superintendent of police, Special Investigation Cell (SIC), explained that villagers had found the crashed chopper ablaze in Dirang, and informed district officials.

"Villagers from Bangjalep at Dirang located the chopper around 12.30 pm. It is still burning," Singh said.

The area has no mobile connectivity and the weather is extremely foggy with visibility as low as five meters, he added.