India: Helicopter Wreckage Found

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BBC

Monday, 13 November, 2000, 13:25 GMT Indian helicopter wreckage found

The wreckage has been spotted of an Indian military helicopter missing for the past 24 hours near the border with Pakistan.

Three senior members of India's Border Security Force were among the 12 people on board the Russian-built MI-8 helicopter.

Other helicopters have joined a search to see if there were any survivors.

"The rescue operations are on in full swing and we are looking for possible survivors," an air force spokesman said.

It is not known as yet what caused the helicopter to crash but India's defence minister has said there is nothing at this stage to suggest that Pakistan had any hand in it.

Border region

The Indian Air Force helicopter took off early on Sunday afternoon from the town of Kateshwar in the western state of Gujarat.

It went missing over marshy and desert terrain in the Kutch area of Gujarat, which adjoins Pakistan.

A large-scale search was mounted by the air force, the army and the police.

Other helicopters have joined the search for survivors On board were four crew and eight members of the Border Security Force, including a deputy inspector general and two commandants.

The air force says it sighted the wreckage around 24 hours after the helicopter went missing.

"The helicopter has been sighted some 90 km south from Nalia..." the air force spokesman said.

"It is well within Indian territory," he added.

The search is now on for possible survivors.

Pakistan not involved

Earlier the authorities said they could not rule out anything in explaining the helicopter's disappearance.

Now the air force says the distance between the wreckage and the Pakistan border seems to make it unlikely that Pakistan was in any way involved.

Experts are at the site to try to ascertain the cause of the crash.

There has been no word yet on whether the crew indicated that they had run into technical trouble, but it was suggested earlier that they could have been maintaining radio silence in the border region.

In August last year, shortly after the end of the Kargil conflict, India shot down a Pakistani naval surveillance aircraft in the same border area.

India and Pakistan continue to dispute which country's airspace the plane was flying in when it was shot down.

Pakistan was informed that this helicopter was missing and that the search was taking place.

-- Rachel Gibson (rgibson@hotmail.com), November 13, 2000


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