The Coast Guard has recovered the body of one of the pilots from the wreckage of the Pawan Hans helicopter that fell into the Arabian Seat last week.
The deceased pilot has been identified as Capt. TK Guha, while the search is on for the other missing pilot, a Coast Guard official told PTI.
“Capt. Guha’s body was brought to the shore this morning at around 8.30 AM and sent for a post-mortem,” the Coast Guard spokesman said.
The body was recovered by the Coast Guard yesterday, after the discovery of the wreckage. The Coast Guard found the cockpit of the 14-seater VTPWF Dauphin aircraft, six days after the Pawan Hans helicopter crashed into Arabian Sea off Mumbai coast on November 4.
At the time of the incident, Captains E Samuel and Guha were on board the chopper.
While salvage efforts were being led by the companies concerned, Coast Guard ship ‘Subhadra Kumari Chauhan’ was still in the deep sea to recover more wreckage (of the helicopter) and also to find the other missing pilot, the spokesman said.
The 2001-make Pawan Hans helicopter crashed during night- landing practice, 160-km away from the seashore, after it had taken off from the ONGC installation.
The door of the aircraft was sighted by the Navy and Coast Guard soon after it had crashed into the sea.
The helicopter wreckage was located on the seabed at a depth of 75m. Underwater locater and sonar inputs were thoroughly analysed while divers searched the area for four days.
Vessels of the ONGC were also roped for the westerly side of the sea and Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC) was coordinating the search (and rescue) operation, the spokesperson added.
(With PTI inputs)