Ranjit Sagar Helicopter Crash: Search and Rescue team recovers body of one missing pilot

Jammu/ Aug, 15: The joint rescue and search teams of the Army, Navy, Submarine Rescue Unit and police have finally succeeded in tracing out the body of one of the missing pilots of the August 3 Ranjit Sagar Helicopter crash in Basholi area of Kathua in Jammu and Kashmir.
“The joint teams on Sunday evening have found the mortal remains of one missing pilot,” Ramesh Kotwal, Senior Superintendent of Police, Kathua here said. The search team has retrieved the mortal remains of Lt Col AS Baath from a depth of 75.9 m at 1819 hrs from the Ranjit Sagar Lake. “Efforts to retrieve mortal remains of the second pilot continue,” he said.
The Submarine Rescue Unit of the Indian Navy was engaged on August 13 to trace missing pilots of the Indian Helicopter crash into the deep water of Ranjit Sagar Dam in the Basholi area. The search operations for Indian Army Pilots and helicopter which had crashed into the Ranjit Sagar Dam has intensified with Submarine Rescue Unit of Indian Navy being flown in to explore digitally locate wreckage at depth of approximately 80 – 100 meters, said an official. He said that the Indian Air Force has lifted the heavy equipment from Vishakhapatnam to Pathankot for speeding up the underwater search. “Indian Army and all other agencies to include Indian Navy, Indian Air Force, NDRF, Ranjit Sagar Dam Authority, District Authorities including the locals spared no efforts for bringing the operations to a conclusion,” he said. (