Week on, no trace of two pilots missing in Kathua copter crash
Factors such as depth of lake, silt, wooden logs, boulders, muddy water and cavities are making the job hard
JAMMU: It has been a week since an Army Aviation Corps helicopter with two pilots had crashed into Ranjit Sagar Dam lake in Basohli area of Kathua district and with each passing day, chances of the survival of those on board — a lieutenant colonel and a captain — turn more grim.
Another team of sea divers of the Indian Navy has been requisitioned from Kerala to join the search operations. The team is likely to reach in a day or two.
Kathua senior superintendent of police (SSP) Ramesh Chander Kotwal said, “It’s a technical issue. Deep-water search can’t be mechanical. Though searches are still being conducted by army and navy since day one, there has been no recovery so far.”
Kotwal further said, “The water is not clear...it’s all muddy. Naval divers don’t share much technical details but they are using technology, equipment and divers. The lake bottom is muddy and full of silt, boulders, caves besides an uneven surface.”
“It is a difficult place to search for a chopper or bodies. The searches are on since August 3 morning. There are 10 to 12 divers at the job to trace the wreckage,” he said.
The Kathua police chief said the main wreckage of the chopper hasn’t been located yet.
“Once they do it, tracing bodies would be much easier,” he added.
Kotwal said the place where the chopper had presumably sunk is around 200ft to 250ft deep. “Releasing water will not make much difference because it is a big lake spread over a vast area. And then, we get water for irrigation and electricity from it,” he added.
Officials said multiple factors such as depth of lake, silt, wooden logs, boulders, muddy water, cavities besides poor visibility are adding to the difficulty.
A senior army officer said, “On Sunday, additional equipment was taken to the site of crash. The authorities have now sought another team of naval divers from Kerala. They are likely to reach the place in a couple of days.”
The officer said, “Sonar technology is being used for the past two days, but it has also not fetched any tangible results so far. There may be small caves beneath and in that case, a helicopter going down with its engine on in one of such cavities makes the task difficult.”
Built over the Ravi, 60% of the reservoir of 600MW Ranjit Sagar Dam falls in Jammu. The dam is around 30km from both Pathankot in Punjab and Kathua in Jammu and Kashmir.
It is among the highest earthfill dams in India and has the largest diameter penstock pipes in the country.