POONCH : India’s Northern Army Commander Lt General Ranbir Singh was among seven people who survived a forced landing of an Indian army helicopter in Poonch district of Indian Occupied Kashmir (IOK).
According to Indian media reports, the Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH) made an emergency landing due to technical issues. All seven people, including Lt Gen Singh and two pilots, were said to be safe. The reports said an investigation has been launched.
The incident comes less than a month after an Indian Army Cheetah helicopter crashed in Bhutan.
An Indian and a Bhutanese pilot were killed when the single-engine Cheetah Helicopter en route to Yongphulla, Bhutan, crashed into a hill near Khentongmani.
Two pilots dead in Indian Army chopper crash
That crash had come just days after an Indian Air Force MiG-21 crashed near the Gwalior Air Force Base in Madhya Pradesh. Both pilots – a group captain and a squadron leader – had managed to eject safely.
According to another Indian media report, more than 170 Indian pilots and 40 civilians have been killed in air crashes since 1970.
All these crashes involved fighter planes and most were attributed to MiG-21 jets, which have had 210 accidents from 1963-2015.
“According to Rajya Sabha, over the past 40 years, India had lost more than half of its MiG combat fleet of 872 aircraft. Over half of the 840 aircraft that were lost in crashes were built between 1966 and 1984,” the report states.
“Since 2016, the IAF has lost 27 aircraft in crashes, which include 15 fighter jets and helicopters,” India’s Minister of State for Defence Shripad Naik said in June.
