Maharashtra: 3 dead after helicopter crashes near Bavdhan area in Pune
Three people died in a helicopter crash near Bavdhan in Pune district on Wednesday morning.
The co-pilot of an Indian Coast Guard helicopter, which made a crash landing in adjoining Raigad district earlier this month, has died after battling for life for 17 days.
Assistant Commandant Capt Penny Chaudhary had been on life support following a surgery for head injury. The Coast Guard Chetak helicopter crashed near Murud in Raigad on March 10.
Capt Chaudhary was undergoing treatment at the naval hospital INHS Asvini in Colaba area of south Mumbai.
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“She died last night,” Coast Guard PRO (west) Commandant Avinandan Mitra said.
Capt Chaudhary had suffered internal bleeding after the rotor of the helicopter struck her head.
The helicopter was on a routine patrol off the coast south of Mumbai, and crash-landed 6 nautical miles north of Murud near Alibaug at around 2.50 pm. There were four persons on board — Deputy Commandant Balwinder Singh, Assistant Commandant Chaudhary, and two divers Sandeep and Baljeet.
Capt Chaudhary was the first to disembark from the crashed helicopter, but was hit on her helmet by the moving rotor blade.
When the helicopter engine shut mid air, the pilot and the co-pilot used the rotor’s movement to glide the chopper towards the shore to prevent it from falling in the sea.
They had tried to land the chopper on a sandy part of the beach, but could not. It landed on a rocky patch on Nadagram beach.
Prior to this incident, two pilots died when an Indian Air Force (IAF) microlight helicopter crashed in Assam’s Majuli island on February 15.
On January 13, a Pawan Hans helicopter carrying two pilots and five ONGC employees crashed about 22 miles off Mumbai coast. All seven people died in the accident.
(With agencies)
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