A special team of the Indian Navy, equipped with high-end gadgets, is in the final phase of the search to locate the missing pilot and co-pilot, whose helicopter crashed and sank into the Ranjit Sagar Dam on August 3 in Jammu, the Army said on Tuesday.
The expansive reservoir is 25-km long, 8-km wide and more than 500 feet deep, it stated.
“The Indian Army is coordinating the efforts of the Indian Navy deep divers team consisting of two Officers, four JCOs and 24 other ranks,” an Army spokesman stated.
Multi-beam sonars, side scanners, remotely operated vehicles and underwater manipulators, flown in from Chandigarh, Delhi, Mumbai and Kochi have been pressed into service. A small area of 60 m by 60 m had been localised and special sonar equipment flown in from Kochi were being employed.
Challenging conditions
This deep underwater operation is especially challenging due to the near zero visibility below 50 m owing to the colloidal nature of water in this season, which adversely impacts accuracy of sonars and other sensors, the Army noted.
“The search operation continues unabated in spite of bad weather and rain. The expertise and equipment of the Army, Navy, IAF, NDRF, SDRF, NGOs, State police, dam authority and private firms from all over the country have been in action,” the Army added.
The weaponised Advanced Light Helicopter took off from Pathankot on a routine sortie
Neel, brother of Capt Jayant Joshi, one of the missing pilots, expressed agony. in a series of tweets, at the ‘delay’ in the search operations. “Almost one week later, he has not been recovered. I wish I could explain the agony of my parents. Operations to extract the wreckage are ongoing at a snail’s pace with no end in sight,” he said, to which the Western Command of the Army responded with an update on the situation.
(With inputs from Dinakar Peri)
