M A I N   N E W S

Bodies of crash victims retrieved

NEW DELHI, Nov 14 (PTI) — After a day-long herculean effort, the bodies of all seven services personnel killed in the crash of a MI-8 helicopter near the Indo-Pak border in the Rann of Kutch were retreived today from deep marshes, even as five survivors were being treated in a military hospital.

The bodies of five BSF personnel, Deputy Inspector General S.C. Yadav, two Commandants R.S. Chauhan and V.R.K. Nair, Subedar Sadiq Lal and Constable Mosherai were handed over to BSF authorities. 

The bodies of Squadron Leader Anil Sharma, pilot of the ill-fated helicopter and his flight engineer Squadron Leader M.S. Pathan were flown to Jamnagar airbase as per the wishes of the family members.

Air Force officials said the salvage operation was speeded up in a bid to determine at the earliest the cause of the crash.

They said experts had begun to collect evidence after NC2 (wreckage as it exists) examination of the wreckage site. “It is going to be a slow and delicate process to extricate the helicopter from the marshes so that no evidence is lost”, officials added.