IAF chief NAK Browne says that 19 bodies have been recovered by IAF commandos near Gaurikund in Uttarakhand where an IAF Mi-17 helicopter carrying 20 people had crashed during a rescue mission and all onboard are feared killed. Browne arrives at Gauchar en route to the crash site.

During night-long search operations, Garud commandos recovered four more bodies, IAF sources said, adding that till this morning 12 bodies have been found from the site of yesterday's crash of the large Air Force chopper.

The dead include five IAF officials while the identity of others is being ascertained, they said. There were 20 people on board the chopper - five from IAF, six from ITBP and rest from National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) sources said.

The Mi-17 V5 chopper was on a rescue mission from Gauchar to Guptkashi and Kedarnath and crashed yesterday afternoon while returning from Kedarnath north of Gaurikund, according to an IAF spokesperson.