2011 Tawang Town Mil Mi-17 crash

2011 Tawang Town Mil Mi-17 crash

A Mil Mi-17 similar to the accident aircraft
Occurrence summary
Date	19 April 2011
Summary	Under investigation
Site	Near Tawang Town, Tawang district, India
Passengers	18
Crew	5
Fatalities	17
Injuries (non-fatal)	Unknown
Survivors	6
Aircraft type	Mil Mi-172
Operator	Pawan Hans
Registration	VT-PHF

2011 Tawang Town Mil Mi-17 crash was an accident of a Pawan Hans Mil Mi-172 on 19 April 2011. The helicopter has 18 passengers and 5 crew. The flight took off from Lokpriya Gopinath Bordoloi International Airport in Assam to a heliport near the town Tawang Town in Tawang district. The flight was trying to land at the heliport which is on top of a hill but the helicopter crashed into a gorge 15 metres height from the heliport and caught fire. The accident occurred at around 1:30 pm. Reports say that 17 of 23 passengers and crew were killed in the accident.^{[1] [2][3][4] [5][6][7]}

Response

Pawan Hans sources said the chopper caught fire, broke into pieces and crashed into a gorge close to the Tawang Civil helipad at around 1357 hours. The helicopter had taken off at 1245 hours, they said.^[8]

An official in the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said that as per initial reports the helicopter crash-landed "due to likely wind shear and down draft while landing and caught fire on impact to the ground".^[8]

Aircraft

The aircraft involved, a Mil Mi 17, registered VT-PHF, was also involved in a previous emergency landing in the same region.^[9]

Cause

The exact cause was yet to be ascertained though a technical snag could not be ruled out, the sources said.

An official in the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said that as per initial reports the chopper crash-landed "due to likely wind shear and down draft while landing and caught fire on impact to the ground".

Casualties

Seventeen of the 23 on board were killed including three crew members. Out of the 17, two were minor's. It also includes two passengers who survived the crash but later died due to injuries from the post-crash fire.

Those killed were identified as Mrs Anita, A Baruah, Dr Tendon, Dr Asif, Mrs R Asif, Mrs Jahara, Ms Asif, Master Asif, Mr A Sharma, A K Saraugi, Ms N Botha, Col Sharma, Mr W Bhatia, Mr T Mustafa.^[10]

References