Indian Army helicopter crashes near Arunachal's Mandala hills

ITANAGAR: An Indian Army Aviation Cheetah helicopter flying an operational sortie near Bomdila in Arunachal Pradesh crashed near the Mandala hills area of the state on Thursday, officals said.

Defence Guwahati Public Relations Officer Lt col Mahendra Rawat said that the aircraft was reported to have lost contact with the Air Traffic Controller at around 09:15 AM today.

Search operations for the pilots are underway.

Previously, thirteen 13 Indian Air Force personnel died after an AN-32 aircraft crashed on June 3, 2019 after taking off from Assam's Jorhat. The aircraft was headed for Mechuka Advanced Landing Ground (ALG) in Arunachal Pradesh when it lost contact with ground authorities at around 1 pm.

After a massive search and rescue operation for eight days, during which assets from several agencies were deployed, the wreckage of the aircraft was located by a Mi-17 chopper. The remains IAF personnel were retrieved on June 20 from Arunachal Pradesh where the plane crashed. The wreckage was located 16 km north of Lipo in Arunachal Pradesh at an elevation of 12,000 feet.