ONGC chopper crash: Black box, human remains found during search for missing pilot

The Coast Guard has traced the black box or Aircraft Voice Data Recorder (VDR) of the crashed Pawan Hans helicopter, which crashed off the Mumbai coast on Saturday, and recovered some human remains during the search for the missing pilot.

The VDR was recovered by Samudra Sevak vessel yesterday, along with some body parts. More human remains were found today morning but were beyond recognition. They have been sent to R.N Cooper Municipal General Hospital for DNA analysis.

The helicopter with seven people onboard, 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.

So far, bodies of ONGC officials P.N. Srinivasan, R. Saravanan, Jose Antony, VK Bindu Lal Babu and Pankaj Garg, and one of the pilots, Capt. R. Ohatkar had been identified. A high-level search operation to trace pilot V C Katoch is currently underway.

@IndiaCoastGuard Rescue Mission ‘Khoj’ progressing , Wreckage/Debris located being recovered, Search for missing crew/pilot of ill-fated @ONGC_ Aircraft continues…@SpokespersonMoD pic.twitter.com/IIzaeonzJm

— Indian Coast Guard (@IndiaCoastGuard) January 14, 2018