ONGC chopper crash: Human remains found in sea; sent for DNA analysis

The Coast Guard said on Monday that some human remains were recovered during the search operation for missing crew members of the Pawan Hans helicopter which crashed off the Mumbai coast on Saturday.

The recovered remains were beyond recognition and have been sent for DNA analysis, a Coast Guard official said.

"As per our information, the ONGC deployed more divers to trace the missing crew members. Some body parts were found yesterday while more were traced this morning," he said.

The remains have been taken to the R N Cooper Municipal General Hospital. The DNA samples of relatives of the missing crew members have been taken to identify body parts, he said, adding that more information will be provided later.

The Coast Guard had earlier traced the Aircraft Voice Data Recorder (VDR) of the Pawan Hans helicopter while the recovery of the remaining debris was in progress.

The helicopter with seven people on-board, including five officers of the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) and two pilots, crashed off the Mumbai coast minutes after it took off for the state-owned company's oil installation in the Arabian sea on Saturday.

Five bodies were recovered two days back, the Coast Guard and the Navy said in their statements earlier.

The ONGC has key oil and gas fields off the Mumbai coast and Pawan Hans helicopters routinely ferry company employees and officers to the oil installations that are situated as far as 160 kilometres from the coastline.

The field in the offshore include Mumbai High, the nation's largest oil field and Bassein fields, the largest gas field.