Itanagar, July 5

An Arunachal Pradesh Police team today spotted the debris of an IAF chopper, which went missing yesterday, in a deep ravine, and also the bodies of two crew members.“The team could not retrieve the bodies as the crash site is located in a deep gorge at the confluence of a waterfall and the Nyorch river. The third body is yet to be traced,” IGP (Law and Order) Nabin Payeng said, adding extra ground force would move to the site early tomorrow to retrieve the bodies. The team spotted the chopper’s debris earlier in the day and two search teams were deployed at the reported locations.One team, was led by Papum Pare SP Tumme Amo comprising 63 personnel from Police Training Centre and 17 ITBP personnel, besides a medical team. The second team was led by DSP Neelam Nega with 61 personnel from PTC and 10 local youths armed  with GPS and WT set.A search operation was launched since morning by the Army, ITBP along with Arunachal Pradesh Police and India Reserve Battalion to locate the chopper.The Advanced Light Helicopter of the IAF engaged in flood rescue mission in the state went missing at 3.50 pm yesterday after it took off from Pilputu Helipad near Sagalee. It was evacuating people stranded in Sagalee and Dambuk due to landslides caused by heavy rains.Tezpur-based Defence spokesperson Lt Col Sombit Ghosh had said the chopper had gone out for flood rescue operations from its base in Jorhat on Tuesday morning.Sagalee Additional Deputy Commissioner J Pertin said the IAF helicopter had made five sorties since it arrived there at 10.30 am yesterday. — TNS/PTI

Fatalities in Arunachal 

• In May this year, IAF’s Sukhoi-30 jet crashed near the Assam-Arunachal border, killing both pilots
• In 2011, then Arunacha CM Dorjee Khandu and four others had died after the Pawan Hans chopper carrying them crashed at a remote location in the state