ME News Bureau: A Pawan Hans helicopter on duty for Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited (ONGC), carrying seven of their employees, has gone missing off the Mumbai coast.
Five bodies recovered so far along with debris are being transferred to Mumbai by an ONGC MSV HAL ANANT.
The dead bodies were identified as V. K. BindulalBabu, Jose Antony, and P. N. Srinivasan, identities of the others are yet to be confirmed.
Responding to media queries on the mishap, ONGC GM Corporate Affairs Harish Awal said, "It will take a long time to find out the real problems behind the missing of helicopter.".
Sources said the helicopter lost contact with the Air Traffic Controller(ATC) 15 minutes after it took off at 10.20 am from Mumbai. ATC also added that the helicopter should have reached its destination at 10.58 am.
Union Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan tweeted: “Spoke to Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and requested for help from Coast Guard and other agencies in the search and rescue operations; CMD ,ONGC rushed to Mumbai.”
The Search operations by the Indian Navy for the missing Pawan Hans helicopter and the crew continue. Currently, four Indian Naval ships (Teg, Tarasa, T 11 and T 45) are undertaking search in the area. INS Teg also has Chetak helicopter and Diving teams embarked onboard to augment the search efforts.
One IN Dornier aircraft has completed the search and one P8I Long Range aircraft has conjoined the search with two SAR kits. In addition, two Seaking helicopters are involved in the SAR efforts in rotation from Naval Air Station Shikra. Further, Indian Coast Guard ships and aircraft are also deployed for SAR.
INS Makar, a special hydrographic ship, has left Karwar to augment the search for any sunken wreck from tomorrow onwards. Additional ships and aircraft are being kept ready at Mumbai for deployment as and when required.
