Mumbai: Authorities late on Monday evening located the cockpit of the ill-fated Pawan Hans Dauphin N3 helicopter that crashed into the Arabian Sea on November 4. A body of one of the two missing pilots has been recovered from it, a source said.
“The identity of the body is yet to be ascertained,” said an official from Pawan Hans. The recovery of more helicopter wreckage is underway. Coast guard ships and ONGC vessels are carrying out search operations, while Navy is carrying out bottom mapping and diving under the sea.
Speaking about the development, the official spokesperson of the Coast Guard said, “In a joint operation coordinated by Coast Guard Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC), wreckage of the Pawan Hans helicopter was located and the cockpit with the body of a pilot was recovered at a depth of 75 metres. The search for the other pilot and remaining wreckage is in progress.”
According to sources, the damaged cockpit was recovered 83 nautical miles of Nariman Point, where the crash had occurred. On Sunday — three days after the disaster — all Navy ships and vessels were taken off the operation and only the Navy conducted diving operations, while the Coast Guard and ONGC did base-level searches.
According to the official spokesperson of ONGC, “Immediately after the crash, our vessels started the search and rescue operation, and the Navy was called in. ONGC operation will continue until everything that belongs to the aircraft is recovered.”
An aviation expert, who did not wish to be named, explaining about the possible circumstances that might have led to the crash, said, “When a helicopter, due to some technical fault, gets misbalanced, it falls, And due to sea’s water, its blade starts burning and cracks occur on the helicopter. Even after getting submerged, the helicopter starts rotating at a speed of 60 to 80 knots, because of which the pilot could have fallen unconscious. And once the helicopter is underwater, one can survive for only 30 minutes; so there is no scope of getting out.”
The helicopter had two highly experienced pilots on board. While Capt. E. Samuel, who has flown for 25,000 hours, is supposed to retire by the end of this month, Capt. T.K. Guha a retired colonel has flown for 6,000 hours.
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