Indian Army chopper crashed in Ranjit Sagar Dam

Pathankot, Aug 3 (UNI) A helicopter of the Indian Army on Tuesday morning crashed into the deep waters of the Ranjit Sagar Lake, which falls in Basohli area of Kathua district in Jammu & Kashmir, about 30 kms from Pathankot, and shares boundaries with Jammu Kashmir, Punjab and Himachal Pradesh.
The chopper belonged to 254 Army Aviation Squadron and had taken off from Mamun cantonment 10 minutes before it came down. According to defence sources, it was carrying out low-level sorties when it lost control and crashed into the lake.
The crash took place in the lake near Purtho village of Basohli area.
According to the inputs received from the Defence sources, both the pilot and co-pilot of the Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH) Dharuv are reported to be safe. The helicopter took sortie from the Army’s Aviation Squadron at Mamun Cantonment and crashed in the morning.
Kathua Senior Superintendent of Police Ramesh Kotwal said that as per locals, the chopper crashed in the lake around 10.43 hrs. Prima facie it appeared to be an army aviation chopper and that the police have pressed into service divers and motorboats, but there is no clue so far. How many were on boards is not known yet. But as per reports, there is no report of any casualty.
Locals claimed that the chopper hovered over the lake area to drop a pipe into the water, the moment it did this morning, it crashed into the deep waters of the Lake, SSP Kotwal added.
From the Punjab side, Gurdaspur Deputy Commissioner Sanyal Aggarwal said that a team of senior officials had been dispatched to the site whereas SDRP teams had also rushed to the spot site.
Gurdaspur Senior Superintendent of Police Surinder Singh Lamba also reached the incident spot to take stock of the situation and to look after the rescue and relief operations.
Army sources further said that a rescue operation is launched and more confirmed details are awaited.
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