Close shave for Northern Army Commander at LOC after his chopper develops snag

SRINAGAR: A team of top army officers including Northern Army Commander Lieutenant General Ranbir Singh had a miraculous escape when their Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH) force landed after developing technical snag soon after it took off near the Line of Control (LOC) in Poonch district of Jammu division.

The incident occurred in the afternoon when Lieutenant General Singh along with six officers including two pilots took off after reviewing security along the Line of Control (LOC) in Mandi-Deedar of Poonch.

Sources said soon after the chopper took off, it developed snag and started flying low. Sensing danger, the pilot immediately force landed the chopper near a floor mill in Deedar area. However, there were no injuries to any of the commanders on board, army sources said.

“There was a technical snag in the ALH because of which it had forced landing. There are no injuries to the army commander. There were seven officers on board including two pilots. Everyone is safe and there are no injuries to anyone”, said Lieutenant Colonel Abhinav Navneet, defence spokesman at Northern Command Headquarters.

A court of inquiry has been ordered to find out what actually happened. “It (court of enquiry) will start. Then we will be able to know where the technical snag was. I will share the details once I get it”, said Lieutenant Colonel Navneet.

Sources said Northern Army Commander had gone to forward areas to review the security along the LoC as Pakistan has been repeatedly violating ceasefire by shelling army and civilian positions in Jammu and Kashmir.

Data reveals that Pakistan has carried out 162 ceasefire violations along the LoC in October so far. Three army troopers and some civilians were killed in the cross border firing. On Tuesday, a Junior Commissioned Officer was killed in Pakistani firing in Nowshera sector of Rajouri district in Jammu.

On Sunday Indian army launched massive artillery blitzkrieg smashing terror launch pads in Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir. Indian army, sources said, used Bofors artillery guns to pound terror camps and launch pads in a calibrated manner on the intervening night of Saturday and Sunday.

The action followed the killing of two Indian army soldiers and a civilian in a ceasefire violation by Pakistan Army in Tangdhar sector of Kupwara district. Several houses were damaged in Pakistani shelling in Tangdhar sector.