Ahmedabad: An Advanced Light Helicopter of the ICG carrying four crew members crashed into the sea on Monday night while trying to evacuate an injured crew member on board motor tanker ‘Hari Leela’ which was sailing nearly 30 nautical miles off the Porbandar coast.

The Indian Navy, including its highly trained divers, has joined the search operation launched by the Coast Guard to locate a pilot who went missing after its helicopter crashed into the Arabian Sea off Gujarat’s Porbandar coast four days ago, officials said on Thursday.

The Navy’s “clearance diving” team, which has highly skilled personnel who perform a variety of underwater tasks, along with a specialized vessel are assisting in the search and rescue operations of the missing crew member Rakesh Rana, a pilot, said Coast Guard PRO Amit Uniyal.

“The search for one missing air crew member is still on with the help of four Indian Coast Guard (ICG) ships, two Indian Navy ships, and aircraft. Average depth in area is 55 metres. The Navy’s clearance diving team along with a specialized vessel are assisting in the search and rescue operation,” informed Uniyal.

Uniyal said the injured crew member of the tanker was rescued by an ICG ship on Thursday.

While one of the four crew members on board the crashed chopper was rescued immediately, the three others went missing. Out of those three, the bodies of two crew members, a pilot and a diver, were recovered on Tuesday night.

Agencies