Arunachal helicopter crash: Indian Army pays obeisance to officers with full military honours

Guwahati (Assam) [India], March 17 (ANI): Indian Army on Friday paid obeisance to Lieutenant Colonel VVB Reddy and Major Jayanth A with full military honours at Assam’s Tezpur.

The two Indian Army personnel sacrificed their lives in the line of duty on Thursday while they were on an operational sortie in Arunachal Pradesh.

“Obeisance was paid with full military honours at Tezpur to the mortal remains of Lt Col VVB Reddy and Maj Jayanth A of Army Aviation, who sacrificed their lives in the line of duty on March 16 while on an operational sortie in Arunachal Pradesh,” read the Indian Army release.

Defence Guwahati Public Relations Officer Lieutenant Colonel Mahendra Rawat said that the wreath was laid on behalf of a grateful nation for the untiring service to the nation by the officers.

The mortal remains have been moved to their home towns Yadadri (near Hyderabad), Telangana and Madurai, Tamil Nadu in a Special Military Plane, it added.

Officials said that an Indian Army Aviation Cheetah helicopter flying an operational sortie near Bomdila in Arunachal Pradesh crashed near the Mandala hills area of the state on Thursday.

Rawat said that the aircraft was reported to have lost contact with the Air Traffic Controller at around 9.15 am on Thursday.

Previously, thirteen 13 Indian Air Force personnel died after an AN-32 aircraft crashed on June 3, 2019, after taking off from Assam’s Jorhat.

The aircraft was headed for Mechuka Advanced Landing Ground (ALG) in Arunachal Pradesh when it lost contact with ground authorities at around 1 pm.

After a massive search and rescue operation for eight days, during which assets from several agencies were deployed, the wreckage of the aircraft was located by a Mi-17 chopper.

The remains of IAF personnel were retrieved on June 20 from Arunachal Pradesh where the plane crashed.

The wreckage was located 16 km north of Lipo in Arunachal Pradesh at an elevation of 12,000 feet. (ANI)