3 Indian Coast Guard personnel missing after helicopter hard landing in sea
text_fields
Representational Image
Rajkot: Three crew members of an Indian Coast Guard (ICG) helicopter are missing after it made a hard landing in the sea off the Porbandar coast in Gujarat Monday night, The Indian Express reported.
The Indian Coast Guard stated that there were four crew members onboard and one of them was rescued, and search for others are underway.
The helicopter was rushing to address a medical emergency onboard a tanker when it had to be ditched into the sea.
Taking to its official X account, the Indian Coast Guard detailed that the helicopter took off responding to a distress call from Indian-flagged oil tanker, Hari Leela, while sailing off Porbandar coast.
The statement added that the helicopter had to make an emergency landing and then ‘ditched into the sea’.
ICG reportedly deployed ‘04 ships & 02 aircraft for rescue efforts’.
The Indian Express reported citing a Coast Guard officer that the helicopter had taken off from ICG station in Porbander on a mission to save an injured crew member of a tanker.
The officer added that the helicopter had to make a hard landing and details of what happened are being ‘ascertained’.
It is reported citing another officer that there were two pilots and two aircrew divers onboard at the time.
The officer added that pilots and aircrew members were trained to escape from aircraft during emergency situations.