Joint rescue and search teams of the Army, Navy, Submarine Rescue Unit, NDRF and police on Sunday traced the body of one of the two army pilots of army’s Rudra helicopter who had gone missing after their helicopter crashed into Ranjit Sagar Lake at Basholi in J&K’s Kathua on August 3.
“Body of the pilot, lieutenant colonel AS Baath, was retrieved from the Ranjit Sagar lake around 6.30 pm on Sunday. Searches for the co-pilot, (a captain) are on,” said Kathua district police chief (SSP) Ramesh Chander Kotwal.
At 1819h (6.19 pm), the army officer’s mortal remains were retrieved from a depth of 75.9 metres, according to defence spokesman lieutenant colonel Devender Anand, and efforts were underway to locate the remains of the co-pilot.
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The Indian Air Force (IAF) had brought heavy equipment from Visakhapatnam to Pathankot on Saturday, according to a defence spokesman, to help speed up the underwater search operation involving the army, navy, air force, national disaster response force (NDRF), Ranjit Sagar Dam Authority, district authorities, and locals.
On August 11, nine days after the helicopter crashed into the dam in Basohli area of Kathua district while on a normal training sortie, the wreckage of the chopper was discovered at a depth of over 80 metres in the enormous lake. The Ranjit Sagar dam is 25 kilometres long, 8 kilometres broad, and 500 feet deep.
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