SRINAGAR: Two Army pilots were killed when their helicopter crashed in a forest area in Udhampur district of Jammu and Kashmir on Tuesday. Defence spokesman Lt Col Devender Anand said during a training sortie in Patnitop, the Army's Cheetah helicopter crash-landed in Shiv Garh Dhar area.
Locals and armymen rushed to the spot and pulled out the pilots from the wreckage of the helicopter. Policemen also joined the rescue operation. The two pilots, Major Rohit Kumar and Major Anuj Rajput, were critically injured and were evacuated to the nearby military hospital, but succumbed later.
The chopper belonged to the Army Aviation Corps. The Army has ordered a Court of Inquiry to ascertain the reason behind the crash. Officials said the incident reportedly occurred between 10.30 am to 10.45 am when the chopper was caught in bad weather.
There was a thick fog over Patnitop when the incident occurred, they said. Jammu & Kashmir Lt-Governor Manoj Sinha tweeted to pay tributes to the pilots.
"I salute the courage and supreme sacrifice of our braveheart Army officers Major Rohit Kumar & Major Anuj Rajput who laid down their lives in the line of duty at Patnitop, Udhampur. My thoughts and prayers are with the bereaved families in this hour of grief," he tweeted.