Indian Navy copter crashes in Goa

A routine training sortie ended in disaster after an Indian Navy helicopter crashed into the Arabian sea, 22 nautical miles west of Goa, on Wednesday morning. Navy officials said that all three personnel on the craft at the time of the crash survived. Navy PRO commander N V Kesari said three naval officers—commander Divesh Khurana, lieutenant commander Prashant and lieutenant Gaurav—were on the Kamov-28 helicopter that plummeted into the sea at around 11.30 am. The crew had, however, sent an SOS to the air traffic control at Dabolim naval air base and a search and rescue helicopter was immediately dispatched to locate the wreckage site and bring in survivors.

“All three officers were picked up and brought to base and they are fine,” Kesari added. Meanwhile, a fast attack craft INS Bitra, operating in the vicinity, was asked to retrieve the wreckage of the Kamov-28, a chopper used in anti-submarine warfare. “Only a few of the helicopter parts could be salvaged. The chopper’s main body sank at the site,” Kesari said. The navy has constituted a board of inquiry to ascertain the cause of the crash. It is learnt that Wednesday’s crash is the fourth involving a Kamov-28 helicopter since 1984. The worst was in August 2005 when a Kamov-28 on a flight between Vizag and Goa crashed in the jungles of Belgaum killing five.

Posted in: Helicopter,Naval