Two bodies recovered after Indian Coast Guard helicopter crashed in Arabian sea

NEW DELHI: Two out of three bodies have been recovered after the Indian Coast Guard (ICG) Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH) crashed in the Arabian Sea during an emergency landing when it was approaching a vessel for the evacuation of an injured crew member.

One crewmember was saved earlier, when the wreckage was located. The bodies recovered on Tuesday have been identified as Commandant Vipin Babu and P/NVK Karan Singh, as per the Porbandar Coast Guard DIG Pankaj Agarwal.

The helicopter had saved the lives of 67 people during the recent cyclonic weather in Gujarat and was forced to make the emergency landing in the Arabian Sea during a rescue operation about 45 km from Porbandar.

The rescue operation was launched around 11 pm on Monday for the medical evacuation of a seriously injured crew onboard Indian flagged Motor Tanker Hari Leela, about 45 km from Porbandar into the sea, in response to a request received from the Master of the vessel, the Indian Coast Guard said in a statement.

Earlier on August 26, the Indian Coast Guard rescued 11 crew members from the distressed MV ITT Puma during a challenging night-time search and rescue operation, a press release said.

According to the release, the Mumbai-registered general cargo vessel was en route from Kolkata to Port Blair when it reportedly sank about 90 nautical miles south of Sagar Island (West Bengal).