Srinagar Mar 11: A co-pilot died while the pilot was injured after a Cheetah helicopter of the Indian Army crashed in Baraub area of Gurez in north Kashmir’s Bandipora district on Friday afternoon.
As per an Army spokesman, the chopper was on a routine mission to evacuate an ailing soldier from a forward post it lost communication contact with the forward post at Gujran, Baraub.
A search operation on foot was immediately launched by the Indian Army alongside search and rescue helicopters which were pressed into service, the Army said.
It said the wreckage of the crashed helicopter was found in a snow bound Gujran Nallah area while the pilot and the co-pilot of the helicopter were grievously injured in the crash and were immediately evacuated to Command Hospital, Udhampur.
The co-pilot, Maj Sankalp Yadav, 29, succumbed to his injuries at 92 Base Hospital while the injured pilot remains critical, but stable at Command Hospital, Udhampur.
“Events leading to the crash of the helicopter are being ascertained,” Army said.
Maj Sankalp Yadav was commissioned in 2015 and was a resident of Jaipur, Rajasthan. He is survived by his father.