New Delhi:
An Indian Air Force (IAF) helicopter crashed in Uttar Pradesh's Sitapur district today, killing all seven people on board.
Sources told NDTV those killed include senior officers of the Baralli-based helicopter squadron. Some of those killed, are believed to have been involved in air-lifting tourists who were stranded in Uttarakhand after the flash flood that devastated the state last year.
The helicopter was on its way from Bareilly to Allahabad. Just before the crash, the pilots reportedly contacted the Air Traffic Control (ATC) in Lucknow and alerted it to a technical glitch.
The IAF said that routine sortie took off at about 15.53 and flew for about an hour before it crashed.
The Dhruv helicopter that crashed today is built indigenously by the state-run Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) in Bangalore.
About 150 Dhruv helicopters are used by the army, navy and air force.
The entire fleet has been grounded at least twice in the past because of technical snags including engine trouble.
The IAF has ordered a court of inquiry to establish the cause of the crash. However, a senior IAF helicopter pilot who didn't want to be named said "the May-Day call from Captain indicates that he was in control till the very last when something would have gone horrible wrong leading to death.