An Indian Army chopper (254 AA helicopter) from Aviation Corps crashed near the Ranjit Sagar Dam in the Basohli area of Jammu and Kashmir’s Kathua. Total 5 people were on board who are presently missing.
“We have received information that an army helicopter has crashed in the lake. We have rushed our teams to the spot,” superintendent of police of Punjabs’ Pathankot, Surendra Lamba, said over the phone.
Currently there isn’t any reports of causality. yet more details are awaited. The dam is located about 30km from Pathankot. Kathua’s SSP Ramesh Kotwal said citing local residents that the chopper crashed in the dam around 10.43 am. “Prima facie it appeared to be an army aviation chopper. We have pressed into service divers and motorboats but no clue so far about many were on-board,” Kotwal added.
Local residents claimed the chopper used to hover over the dam and drop a pipe into the water every day. The moment it dropped the pipe on Tuesday morning, it crashed, they added.
Indian Army chopper ALH Dhruv crashes near Ranjit Sagar Dam in Pathankot, rescue ops on https://t.co/GjkrlYNviJ pic.twitter.com/2667ttkSFN
— Economic Times (@EconomicTimes) August 3, 2021