Dharamshala, April 20: A Tibetan man is among those miraculously survived in the deathly mishap of Mi17 helicopter that crashed while landing in the mountainous region of Tawang that killed 17 people on board late on April 19.
Dorjee Wangdue Dewatsang, who is a Member of Tibetan Parliament, survived the crash after he jumped even as the chopper caught fire and sustained injuries on the face. Wangdue along with other survivors are currently receiving treatment for burn injuries in a civil hospital.
“I jumped from a height of 15 or 20 metres off the ground when the chopper caught fire,” Wangdue narrated of his miraculous escape to Tibet Express over the phone.
Seventeen persons were killed while two crew members including the pilot captain Varun Gupta and four passengers survived with grievous injuries, Tawang deputy commissioner Gamlin Padu told PTI.
This is the second helicopter crash in Tawang district bordering China. An Indian Air Force(IAF) MI 17 chopper crashed minutes after take off on November 19 last year killing all 12 on board.
The civilian Mi17 chopper of state-owned Pawan Hans, manufactured in 1996, was on a regular flight to Tawang from the Lokopriya Gopinath Bordoloi International Airport in Guwahati, Pawan Hans sources said. It had valid certificate of airworthiness till August 28 this year.
There were two versions as to what caused the mishap.
Pawan Hans sources said the chopper caught fire, broke into pieces and crashed into a gorge close to the Tawang Civil helipad at around 1357 hours. The helicopter had taken off at 1245 hours, they said.
The exact cause was yet to be ascertained though a technical snag could not be ruled out, the sources said.
An official in the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said that as per initial reports the chopper crash-landed "due to likely wind shear and down draft while landing and caught fire on impact to the ground".
Security forces along with the locals have swung into rescue operations.
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