A week after searches for two army pilots who went missing after a helicopter crash in Ranjit Sagar Reservoir yielded no results, India is likely to seek Israeli help with specialized equipment.
The pilots' helicopter crashed into the reservoir in the Kathua district of Jammu and Kashmir on August 3, and the two have been missing since then. Search operations by the army and navy have been ongoing since the day of the accident. According to Defense and Security Service sources, the authorities concerned will turn to Israel in search of specialized equipment that can be used underwater at much shallower depths than Indian systems.
Although there are systems with India that can operate at much deeper levels, they are larger and are onboard naval vessels so it is not possible to get them to a reservoir, they added. Sources stated that there are only certain depths divers can reach to go beyond compression chambers or special ships are needed. International aid is coordinated from the Army Headquarters.
The incident came when the brother of one of the missing pilots, Neel Joshi, expressed his grief on Twitter on Monday. “We have now lost all hope. The anticipation, the waiting and the day after day useless searches by the Navy and the Army are torture for our mother, who has to wait every day to hear the news, ”Joshi tweeted.