India

ONGC oil rig bound helicopter with 7 onboard goes missing

Search and rescue operations have begun for the Pawan Hans Dauphin N2 helicopter which went missing on Saturday morning with 7 people onboard. According to the defence spokesperson, some objects, which could be parts of the helicopter have been recovered from the site. Whether it is parts of the wreckage is yet be confirmed.
The Indian Navy has deployed a frigate and a surveillance aircraft to locate the missing chopper while the Coast Guard said that “some debris has been located”, but did not elaborate.

The chopper, Dauphin N3, bearing registration number VT-PWA, took off from Juhu aerodrome at 10.25 AM, with five ONGC employees and two pilots onboard, they said.

The chopper was scheduled to land at the designated oil rig at Mumbai High at 11 AM, the sources said.

Search operations are on, they added. The Navy said it had deployed its stealth frigate INS Teg for the search operation while surveillance aircraft P8i has also been press into service. The Coast Guard said that it has diverted ships which were at sea and also those sailing from Mumbai.

“A Dornier aircraft and helicopters from Daman (near Dahanu) have also been launched,” a Coast Guard spokesperson said.

The spokesperson added that “some debris has been located”, but did not say if it belonged to the chopper.

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