4 army officers dead in Sikkim chopper crash
Source: Hueiyen News Service
Gangtok, April 22 2011:
Four army personnel, including two majors, were found dead in Sikkim Friday, with the wreckage of their helicopter being found a day after it went missing close to the Chinese border, officials said.
The wreckage was spotted on Friday near the Yumthang Valley, about 160 kms northeast of Gangtok.
The Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH) Dhruv helicopter of the Army Aviation Corps had taken off from Sewak Road Base in Siliguri Thursday on a routine training exercise close to the Chinese border when it lost radio contact with another helicopter flying in tandem.
Earlier, search operations had to be called off due to bad weather.
An official said, "The bodies were being brought to the base camp" .
This is the first Dhruv with the Indian armed forces to have crashed since the fleet was inducted in 1998 .
The Dhruv is specifically designed and meant for high-altitude missions.