3 killed as Coast Guard chopper crashes in Gujarat's Porbandar
Porbandar (Gujarat): A Coast Guard Advanced Light Helicopter crashed on Saturday at the air enclave of Porbandar Airport, killing three crew members onboard the chopper, media reports said.
According to an NDTV report, the chopper caught fire, leading to the deaths.
The Dhruv chopper was on a routine sortie when it crashed. The crash took place at the Air Enclave of the Indian Coast Guard, the report stated.
The reason behind the crash is yet to be ascertained and an inquiry has been started to determine the cause, it added.
An India Today report said, three people have been injured in the incident.
Local police confirmed that all those onboard were transported to the civil hospital for medical treatment.
The incident follows a similar crash two months ago when another Coast Guard helicopter fell into the sea.
The Indian Coast Guard is a maritime law enforcement and search and rescue agency, operating within India’s territorial waters.
The identities of the victims in the recent crash remain unknown, and further details are awaited.
In a separate incident four months ago in September, an ALH MK-III helicopter crashed into the Arabian Sea near Porbandar, leaving three crew members missing.
While the bodies of two crew members were later recovered, efforts to locate Rakesh Kumar Rana, the pilot in command of the mission, continued.
The Coast Guard has yet to issue an official statement regarding the latest crash.
The report said that the body of the pilot was, finally, recovered after a month-long search in October off the Gujarat coast by the Coast Guard.
The helicopter crashed while attempting to evacuate an injured person from the motor tanker Hari Leela, located around 30 nautical miles off the Porbandar coast.
Two years ago, several flaws were identified in the ALH Dhruv helicopter, a model operated by the Army, Navy, and Air Force.
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