Two members of a four-strong crew Indian Coast Guard (ICG) helicopter were found dead after it crash-landed in the Arabian Sea during an attempt to evacuate a member of an India-flagged 46,000-dwt MR tanker Hari Leela.
The ICG said that the helicopter was launched around 11 pm local time on Monday in response to a request received from the ship’s master for medical evacuation of a seriously injured crewman onboard the tanker located some 45 km off the Indian coast.
The helicopter made a hard landing into the sea by deploying emergency floaters while approaching the 2000-built tanker, operated by Ind Aust Maritime of India, some 63 km off Porbandar. The helicopter had two pilots and two aircrew divers on board. One diver was rescued alive, while the bodies of one pilot and another aircrew diver were recovered on Tuesday.
The other pilot is still missing and the search and rescue mission in the area of the incident is still underway, more than 36 hours after the accident. Aircraft wreckage has been located during the operation.
The coast guard deployed four ships and two aircraft for the mission soon after the helicopter crash-landed.