Arunachal chopper crash: 'May Day' call to be focus of Army probe; 4 bodies retrieved, search on for 5th personal

Guwahati (Assam) [India], October 22 (ANI): A court of inquiry constituted to probe the October 21 crash of the army helicopter, with five personnel onboard, in Arunachal Pradesh will focus on the 'May Day' call received by Air Traffic Control (ATC) suggesting a technical or mechanical failure on the chopper, officials said.
An Indian Army Aviation Advance Light Helicopter (Weapon Systems Integrated) - ALH WSI based at Likabali (Assam) crashed at general area Migging (South of Tuting in Arunachal Pradesh) at 1043 am on October 21. The chopper had taken off from Likabali in the Lower Siang district.
Immediate joint search operations with teams from the Army and Air Force located the crash site, where the terrain is extremely challenging in terms of hills with steep gradients and thick jungle.
"Four mortal remains have been retrieved by late evening of 21 October 2022. As per latest reports, efforts are on to retrieve the fifth mortal remains," according to an update provided by Public Relations Officer (Defence) Guwahati on Saturday.
The PRO in a statement said that the pilots had more than 600 combined flying hours on the Advance Light Helicopter (Weapon Systems Integrated) and over 1800 service flying hours between them.
"Prior to the crash, the Air Traffic Control (ATC) had received a MAY DAY call suggesting a technical or mechanical failure," the release said. "This will form the focus of the Court of Inquiry, which has been immediately constituted to investigate the causes of the accident," it read.
Earlier on October 5 this year, an Indian Army pilot lost his life in a Cheetah helicopter crash near Tawang area of Arunachal Pradesh.
"The Cheetah helicopter flying in forward areas near Tawang crashed at around 10:00 AM during a routine sortie. Both the pilots were evacuated to the nearest Military Hospital," Army officials had said. (ANI)