Bodies of IAF chopper crash victims recovered

The Indian Air Force officials Sunday visited the crash site of a Chetak helicopter in Jharkhand’s Pakur district and recovered the bodies of the three men — Pilot Gaurav Verma, co-pilot Sankalp Tiwari and Technician Naresh Kumar — killed in the crash on Saturday.



“The IAF team has begun inquiring into the cause of the crash,” Deputy Commissioner of Pakur Sunil Kumar Singh said.



The chopper was flying from Kalaikunda in Bengal’s West Midnapore district to Bagdogra near Darjeeling and was to make a stop at the IAF’s radar and refuelling station atop the 2,000-feet high Singarsi hill in the forests along the border of Pakur and Godda districts in Jharkhand. At around 3.30 pm, as it was near Singarsi,it crashed, apparently due to poor visibility, Singh said.