Nine killed as 2 IAF choppers collide mid-air

In the first ever mid-air helicopter collision involving the Indian Air Force (IAF), nine defence personnel, including five officers, were killed after two Mi-17 choppers crashed into each other minutes after taking off from Jamnagar airbase on Thursday afternoon.

While the IAF has ordered a court of inquiry into the incident, initial reports suggest that the crash occurred after the rotor wings of the two choppers came into contact during a close formation flying mission. Both helicopters were fully armed for a rocket firing mission and crashed just five minutes after taking off, indicating that they had just "paired up" after take-off when the collision occurred.

Those who were killed have been identified as Wing Commander A Sharma, Wing Commander V Singh, Wing Commander S Saxena, Squadron Leader V Manoj, Flying Officer M Srijeet, Junior Warrant Officer R Murugan, and Sergeants R K Rana, R P Sahni and H K Patel.

The crash occurred just outside the Sarmat firing range. According to eyewitnesses, the choppers were flying very close to each other when their rotor blades came in contact, causing both to lose control. The tail rotor of one of the choppers snapped too.

Eyewitnesses said that after the rotor blades collided, one of the two choppers veered into an 11 KV electricity transmission line, which resulted in it catching fire. The second chopper, witnesses said, crashed to the ground.

"We were at a tea stall just a few metres away when we saw the blades of the two choppers colliding with each other," said Dosabhai Boraiya, the owner of the farm where the choppers crashed. "I saw that one of the choppers later touched the electricity transmission wire and caught fire," he added.

His brother Jasabhai, who was also present at the site, said they ran towards the chopper that had not caught fire and pulled out three of the four IAF personnel who were on board. They were rushed to a nearby IAF hospital but none survived. The other chopper had five personnel on board.

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