Mumbai Chopper Crash: Body of missing crew member recovered

Indian Coast Guard recovered the body of the missing crew member of the ill-fated Pawanhans chopper which crashed off the Mumbai coast on Saturday.

As the extensive search by Indian Coast Guard, Navy and ONGC continued for third day on Monday, ONGC vessel Samudra Sevak successfully recovered aircraft parts such as Rotor Blades, Main Gear Box, Tail Gear Box, both engines and Emergency Locator Transmitter.

Coast Guard Dornier aircraft, flying from Daman, also continued to scan the area to search any other part of debris.

A high level delegation from ONGC and Pawan Hans Limited also visited the Western Region Headquarters of Coast Guard to assess the situation.

The bodies of ONGC officials, P N Srinivasan, R Saravanan, Jose Antony, Pankaj Garg and one of the pilots Capt. R Ohatkar, have been identified.

The helicopter with seven people on-board, including five ONGC officers and two pilots, crashed minutes after it took off for the state-owned company's oil installation in the Arabian Sea.

The helicopter, which took off from Juhu at 10.20 am on Saturday, was scheduled to land at ONGC's North Field oil rig at 10.58 am.

The last contact with the Air Traffic Control (ATC) was made at about 10.30 am, 30 nautical miles off Mumbai.

The cause of the tragic incident is still unknown.