GUWAHATI:Parts of the charred bodies of Arunachal’s Tirap district Deputy Commissioner Kamlesh Joshi and the two pilots of the ill-fated Pawan Hans helicopter were on Wednesday recovered from the crash site.
“Unidentifiable lumps of the bodies were retrieved from the crash site today (Wednesday). All arrangements are being made for autopsy and identification in (Assam’s) Dibrugarh,” B M Mishra, Arunachal Pradesh Civil Aviation Secretary, told Express.
“The bodies are not complete and in parts. They are being brought to Khonsa in Tirap district,” an Army Colonel said. He also said that Commandos from the Army’s elite 3 Para and mountaineers from the High-altitude Warfare School from Sonamarg had been pressed into service to locate and retrieve the bodies.
The Dauphin VT-PHK helicopter, which crashed into a deep gorge between two mountains, had gone missing on August 4 while it was en route to Chabua in Assam’s Dibrugarh from Khonsa. Apart from Joshi, the two other crew members were pilot M S Brar and co-pilot Rajiv Hoskte. On that day, Joshi, who had joined as Tirap Deputy Commissioner in June, 2013, was to have attended a meeting of the Ministry of Home Affairs in New Delhi. He belonged to the 2010 IAS batch.
Meanwhile, the All Arunachal Pradesh Students’ Union (Aapsu) has demanded the immediate termination of the MoU which the state government had signed with Pawan Hans Ltd.
“The Pawan Hans Helicopter Limited has become synonymous with flying coffin in our state,” Aapsu said in a representation to Arunachal Chief Minister Nabam Tuki.
“…The past mishaps should have been enough to awaken the state government from deep slumber, but to our utter surprise, the so-called flying coffin is still flying and killing people in our state,” the students’ body said.