17 feared dead in Arunachal chopper crash

As many as 17 people are feared killed in a Pawan Hans helicopter crash at Tawang town in Arunachal Pradesh on Tuesday afternoon.

?Seventeen out of twenty-three on board are presumed dead. Six have been rescued,? said Tawang District Commissioner G Padu.

The Pawan Hans Mi17 helicopter was on way from Guwahati town in Assam to Tawang when it caught fire just minutes before landing at 1.57 pm. It fell into a gorge from a height of 15 metres.

The five crew members have been identified as Captain Varun Gupta, Captain AK Tiwary, Flight Engineer PK Chaturvedi, Assistant Maintenance Engineer SB Kulkarni and Flight attendant A Dikshit.

The 18 civilian passengers included two minors.

The Indian Army is continuing rescue operations.