Naval searchers have been trying to hint at the co-pilot in the Ranjit Sagar Dam reservoir in Basohli vicinity of Kathua district, however, achievement has up to now eluded them, officers stated on Tuesday. On Sunday, the body of one of the pilots on board the Rudra helicopter that had crashed into the lake became discovered after 12 days of the incident.
Kathua senior superintendent of police (SSP) Ramesh Chander Kotwal stated, “Body of the pilot, Lieutenant Colonel AS Batth, became retrieved from the Ranjit Sagar lake around 6.30 pm on Sunday whilst look for the co-pilot (a captain) are on. There is no further progress.”
A defence spokesperson had on Saturday stated, “The Indian Air Force has lifted heavy device from Visakhapatnam to Pathankot to hurry up the underwater search. Indian Army and all different agencies, which includes the navy, IAF, NDRF, Ranjit Sagar Dam Authority, district government and locals, are sparing no attempt to deliver the operations to a very last conclusion.”
On August 11, on the 9th day of severe searches for the reason that helicopter had got here down, the rescuers had placed the wreckage of the ill-fated device at an intensity of almost 80 metres withinside the vast lake.
“The wreckage of the #ArmyHelicopter that had crashed into the #RanjitSagarReservoir had been identified at a depth of approx 80m from the surface of the reservoir. #RemotelyOperatedVehicles are being flown in to assist the recovery operations (sic),” the Western Command had posted on its Twitter handle.
The Rudra helicopter had crashed on August 3 around 10.43 am. Built at Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, the chopper was carrying out a training sortie that involved low-level flying over the lake. The helicopter belonged to the Army’s Pathankot-based 254 ALH-WSI squadron, which had earlier lost a Rudra chopper in January 2021.