JAMMU, Oct 24: Northern Command chief Lt Gen Ranbir Singh, two Colonels and crew of Advanced Light Helicopter Dhruv of the Army sustained injuries when the helicopter they were flying crash landed due to technical snag in Bedar area of Mandi in Poonch district this afternoon.
The GOC-in-C Northern Command was on his way for tour of forward areas in Poonch sector when the helicopter developed snag and had to crash land at Bedar in Mandi area of the border district of Poonch causing injuries to all on board besides a civilian on the ground.
Click here to watch video
Official sources told the Excelsior that there were total of nine persons on board the Advanced Light Helicopter which developed snag while flying and crash landed in Bedar area of Mandi, Poonch.
There were nine people in the helicopter including Northern Command chief Lt Gen Ranbir Singh, Col Sameer Dogra, Col Pushkar Sharma, Capt Rajat Beri, Pilot NR Narayan, Commander Thakur, Naik Nitin, Naik Pawitter and Naik Ramesh Kanwar.
A civilian Mohammad Afzal was injured on ground and has been hospitalized.
An official statement issued by the Army this evening said the Army Comm-ander was visiting units in Poonch sector, when the Advanced Light Helicopter developed a technical snag and crash landed.
“All passengers and crew sustained injuries. The injured were evacuated to Command Hosp-ital, Udhampur. As per medical investigations, all have sustained blunt and superficial injuries but are stable,” the Army statement said.
It added that the local villagers who arrived first on the scene wholeheartedly assisted the Army in management and evacuation of the injured.
“We salute them (the locals),” the Army statement said.
As per the Army, Northern Army Comm-ander Lt Gen Ranbir Singh has undergone all required medical tests in Udhampur Military Hospital and is doing fine.
Local people were the first to reach the spot and came to help of the injured Army personnel. Imme-diately thereafter, top Army and police officials also reached the spot and shifted the injured Army officials to local Military Hospital from where they were flown to the Command Hospital Udhampur.
The helicopter was badly damaged in the crash landing.
SSP Poonch Romesh Angral led police teams joined the operation.
The Northern Command chief had regularly been visiting forward posts on the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir besides Ladakh sector for review of operational preparedness of the troops and situation arising out of regular ceasefire violations by the Pakistani troops since August 5 when the Central Government had scrapped Constitutional provisions of Jammu and Kashmir and bifurcated the State into two Union Territories of J&K and Ladakh.
Follow our WhatsApp channel
