ONGC deputy general manager among five killed in Pawan Hans Helicopter crash off Mumbai coast, 2 pilots missing

Five senior officials of Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) died after a Pawan Hans Helicopter they were boarded at crashed in the Arabian Sea on Saturday.

The five ONGC officials along with two others were on board at the chopper. The Pawan Hans Helicopter was on its way to the offshore site of ONGC from Juhu helicopter base.

Rescue team have recovered the bodies of the five ONGC officials including deputy general manager Pankaj Garg, VK Bindu Lal Babu, R Saravanan, PN Sreenivasan and Jose Anthon, while search operations are being conducted in the Arabian Sea to locate the missing pilots Captain Ohatkar and Captain Katoch are yet to be recovered.

The debris of the helicopter has also been recovered. The reasons for crash is yet unknown.

Also read: ONGC officers seek PM intervention to stall Oil Min's move to sell oil and gas fields

According to government officials, the crash took place between 10:30 am and 11:100 am in the morning. An alarm was raised after the chopper failed to reach its destination at stipulated time.

A senior official of ONGC said, “VTPWA Dauphin AS 365 N3 was scheduled to land at North Field of ONGC at 10.58 am. When No contact could be established after 10.30am, a search operations was launched.

“Helicopter and speed-boats were pressed in the search operation. A few minutes later Coast Guard also joined us,” added the ONGC official.

Also read: Hackers already targeting Pyeongchang Olympics, say researchers

The Indian Navy had pressed its stealth frigate INS Teg and surveillance helicopter P8i for the search operation.