Ten of the most experienced men in BSF were killed in a tragic crash on Tuesday, the elite BSF air wing is now staring at one of its biggest losses and a vacuum created in its ranks, which requires air support roles for troops deployed to ensure the internal security of the country.
The six technicians who were killed were skillfully trained to take care of the Mi-17 V5 whic was inducted recently, while two such choppers were inducted early this year, six more will come in batches in the BSF airwing.
By 9.45am Tuesday morning, a call from a satellite-based device was received at the Palam hangar, telling them about the crash, and at 9.50am the ATC Palam confirmed that the aircraft has “crashed” in Dwarka.
The BSF air wing has a fleet of four fixed wing aircraft, one Embraer, two Avros and the crashed Superking (SKA B-200).
Besides 15 helicopters consisting of six MI-17 1V, two advanced Mi-17 V5 choppers, six Advance Light Helicopters (Dhruv) and one Cheetah helicopter operate under the command of home ministry.
The Superking was inducted in 1994-95 in the border guarding force for air support roles.
The victims in today’s crash includes Raghvendra Kumar Yadav, Rajesh Shivrain, the copilot of the plane.
