Body found from Pawan Hans wreckage identified

The body of one of the pilots that was recovered from the wreckage of the Pawan Hans helicopter that fell into the Arabian Sea last week has been identified as that of Captain T K Guha, even as the search is on for the other missing pilot, a Coast Guard official said on Tuesday.

"Capt Guha's body was brought to the shore at around 8.30 am and sent for a post-mortem," the Coast Guard spokesman said.

Coast Guard had on Monday recovered the body after locating the wreckage, including the cockpit, of the 14-seater VTPWF Dauphin aircraft, six days after the Pawan Hans helicopter crashed into the Arabian Sea off the Mumbai coast on November 4.

At the time of the incident, Captains E Samuel and Guha were on board the chopper.

While salvage efforts were being led by the companies concerned, Coast Guard ship 'Subhadra Kumari Chauhan' was still in the deep sea to recover more wreckage (of the helicopter) and also to find the other missing pilot, the spokesman said.

The 2001-made Pawan Hans helicopter crashed during night landing practice, 160-km away from the shore, after it had taken off from the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation installation.

The door of the aircraft was sighted by the Navy and Coast Guard soon after it had crashed into the sea.

The helicopter wreckage was located on the seabed at a depth of 75m. Underwater locater and sonar inputs were thoroughly analysed while divers searched the area for four days.

Vessels of the ONGC were also roped for the westerly side of the sea and Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre was coordinating the search (and rescue) operation, the spokesperson added.

Photograph: Wreckage of the Pawan Hans helicopter that crashed into the Arabian Sea last week.  ‏@SpokespersonMoD/ Twitter