Three crew members of an Indian Coast Guard (ICG) helicopter have been missing since Monday night after their helicopter made a hard landing and ditched into the sea off the Porbandar coast in Gujarat while they were on a mission to address a medical emergency on board a tanker.
In a statement posted on its official X account, the Indian Coast Guard said the helicopter took off at 11 pm on Monday in response to a distress call from Hari Leela, an Indian-flagged oil tanker while it was sailing at sea off Porbandar coast. “On 02 Sep 2024, @IndiaCoastGuard ALH helicopter was launched at 2300 hrs to evacuate an injured crew member from the Motor Tanker Hari Leela off #Porbandar, #Gujarat. The helicopter had to make an emergency hard landing and ditched into sea,” the statement said.
ICG said there were four crew members on board the helicopter, and one of them was rescued, a massive search and rescue operation has been launched to find the others. “#ICG has deployed 04 ships & 02 aircraft for rescue efforts,” said the statement.
An ICG officer told The Indian Express on Tuesday morning the helicopter had taken off from ICG station in Porbandar. “The helicopter was on a mission to save an injured crew member of a tanker but had to make a hard landing during the mission. Details as to what has exactly happened are being ascertained,” the officer said. “The search and rescue operation to rescue the three remaining crew members of the helicopter is still in progress,” said the officer.
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