Indian Navy chopper crashes Vizag, one dead (Third Lead)

HYDERABAD/NEW DELHI - A crew member was killed and three others, including the pilot and co-pilot, were injured when an Indian Navy helicopter crashed Wednesday near the coastal city of Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh, an officer said.

The Chetak helicopter, deployed at INS Dega, crashed into a stream at Ankapalle, about 50 km from Visakhapatnam, which is the headquarters of Eastern Naval Command, Indian Navy spokesperson Commander P.V.S. Satish told IANS in New Delhi.

He said Krishen Kumar, a diver, died in the crash. The pilot, Lieutenant Commander Rishikesh N., the co-pilot, Lieutenant Tushar Sharma and a passenger, Dipika Sharma, an air traffic control officer who was on a familiarisation flight, were injured.

The spokesman said the cause of the crash was not immediately known but a police officer at the crash site told reporters that the chopper, which was flying low, crashed into the Sharda Nadi stream after it got entangled in high tension electricity wires.

Satish said he was “neither confirming nor denying” the police version. “The cause will be known after an investigation,” he said.

The police officer said the fact that the chopper crashed in the water saved the lives of the others. According to eyewitnesses, the helicopter broke into two after the crash but did not catch fire.

The helicopter was on a routine training sortie.

Kumar’s body has been taken to INS Dega for autopsy. The 26-year-old diver hailed from Patna.

The accident is the second of a naval aircraft this year after a Kiran Mark II trainer crashed into a residential building in Hyderabad during an air show March 3, killing both the pilots. It is also the second accident involving a Chetak of the Indian Navy since 2005.