Helicopter had sent May Day call before crashing: Army | India News

GUWAHATI: The Indian Army Aviation Advance Light Helicopter (Weapon Systems Integrated) had sent a May Day alert to Air Traffic Control suggesting technical snag before crashing at general area Migging (South of Tuting in Arunachal Pradesh) on Friday morning.
A defence PRO said, “Prior to the crash, the Air Traffic Control had received a MAY DAY call suggesting a technical or mechanical failure. This will form the focus of the Court of Inquiry, which has been immediately constituted to investigate the causes of the accident. ”

Immediate joint search operations with teams from the Army and Airforce located the crash site, where the terrain is extremely challenging in terms of hills with steep gradients and thick jungle.

There were five personnel on onboard when the mishap took place. Four mortal remains have been retrieved by late Friday evening and efforts are on to retrieve the fifth mortal remains.
The PRO stated that as per reports the weather was good for flying operations. ” The pilots had more than 600 combined flying hours on ALH-WSI and over 1800 service flying hours between them. The aircraft was inducted into service in June 2015. ”