shivendrashukla
Member
Joined: 21 Dec 2006
Posts: 1354
Location: Mumbai, India
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 Posted: Wed Jan 23, 2013 10:03 am Post subject: Abandoned IAF copter had two machine guns |
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| Quote: | NEW DELHI: The IAF helicopter that was forced to make an emergency landing in the densely-forested Sukma district of Chhattisgarh on Friday, after it came under fire from Maoists, has now been flown back to its operating base at Jagdalpur after being repaired.
This comes even as the IAF is conducting a court of inquiry (CoI) into the entire incident, with concerns being raised about how the Mi-17 was hit by 15-17 bullets because the police/paramilitary forces on the ground are supposed to "sanitise" a 1.5-km area around the helipad since helicopters are the most vulnerable while taking off and landing.
Moreover, the CoI will also look into the circumstances under which the IAF crew, including the two pilots and two Garud commandos, left behind a grievously-injured Chhattisgarh Police radio operator as well as the disabled helicopter (armed with two light machine guns) behind at the spot.
It was only after the IAF crew made its way to the police-paramilitary camp at Chintagufa two km away that CRPF Cobra commandos rushed to the spot to rescue the injured police jawan and secure the helicopter.
"Multiple bullet hits had extensively damaged the fuel tank, hydraulic system, rotor blades and AC generator of the Mi-17, which led to hot oil and fuel gushing into the passenger compartment followed by failure of various systems. But the technicians worked around-the-clock to make it fully airworthy again," said an official. |
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Abandoned-IAF-copter-had-two-machine-guns/articleshow/18140902.cms
There has been a lot of debate going on around the virtual world about the conduct of IAF personnel in this incident.
Here is my take: We actually do not know what the circumstances were. Had they stayed put, the injured jawan would certainly have lost his life as no one knew where the chopper had landed and would have taken time to find them. Also they were just 2 commandos with them. Had they split, again there was a chance that they would have run into some rouge elements and hence would not have been able to defend themselves. So what they did was moved out leaving behind the injured Jawan and sought help so that he could be recovered. Was any other alternative available? Well we may not know.
--Shivendra |
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