'Blunt', 'superficial' injuries to crew of Army chopper

Medical examination conducted upon all nine persons, including Northern Army Commander Lt Gen Ranbir Singh, on board the Army chopper that 'force landed' in Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday have revealed that injuries sustained by them are 'blunt' and 'superficial' in nature, said sources.

Army sources further confirmed quoting doctors, that none of the crew members have sustained fractures or back injuries as had been earlier suspected.

Earlier, it was suspected that the chopper's co-pilot, on deputation from the Navy, had sustained a serious back injury while a technician had suffered a leg fracture.

As per sources, Northern Army Commander Lieutenant General Ranbir Singh, who escaped with 'facial bruises' in the force landing incident was visiting units in the Poonch in Jammu and Kashmir when the chopper developed a technical snag.

The bruises suffered by the Army commander are minor in nature and there is no danger to his life, said sources. A computed tomography (CT) scan was also conducted upon him to rule out any grievous injuries.

The chopper, a Dhruv Advanced Light Helicopter belonging to the Indian Army developed technical snags while carrying nine crew members and passengers including Lt Gen Singh.

It was force landed in a general area in Mandi near Poonch town of Jammu and Kashmir.

The aircraft was being flown by an Army pilot Lieutenant Colonel B. S. Nambiar, while his co-pilot was a Naval pilot.

The first respondents after the incident were local villagers in the Mandi area. As per sources, they came forward to help the injured crew and passengers, before an emergency team was rushed to the spot.

The Dhruv is a twin-engine five-ton class advanced light helicopter indigenously developed by the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL).

In September, a single-engine HAL Cheetah helicopter had crashed in Bhutan while on a training sortie killing an Indian Army pilot and a Bhutanese captain on board.IANS