Army chopper crash: Bodies of deceased pilots flown to home states

The bodies of the two pilots killed in an Army helicopter crash in Arunachal Pradesh were flown to their home states on Friday, a defence spokesperson said here. The mortal remains of Lt Col. VVB Reddy have been sent to Hyderabad and that of Maj. Jayanth A to Madurai, Defence spokesperson Lt Col. Mahendra Rawat said.

The bodies were flown by a special military plane after a wreath-laying ceremony at Tezpur.

The duo was killed when a Cheetah helicopter of the Army, on an operational sortie from Missamari in Assam to Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh, crashed near Mandala in West Kameng district on Thursday morning.

A court of inquiry has been ordered by the Army to ascertain the cause of the accident. Lt Col. Reddy’s body is expected to reach Hyderabad at 6 pm. It will be taken to his native place at Yadadri in Telengana by road.

The aircraft with the co-pilot’s body is scheduled to reach Madurai at 8 pm, the spokesperson added.