Just in: Bodies of three people on board the helicopter that disappeared in Arunachal Pradesh last week, have been found. The bodies will be airlifted from the crash site.


The wreckage of Pawan Hans helicopter, which went missing last week, was found in Arunachal Pradesh's Tirap district yesterday.


"The Air Force has confirmed that the wreckage of the missing helicopter has been found 12 km south of Khonsa, the headquarters of Tirap district," Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju said.


The Dauphin VT-PHK helicopter owned by Pawan Hans Helicopters Ltd took off from Khonsa for Longding last week with a government official and two pilots and lost communication with the Air Traffic Control (ATC) five minutes after departure.



The helicopter was on a routine sortie to Longding and was to return to Mohanbari airport in Assam's Dibrugarh city when the contact was lost. The ATC received the last signal from the chopper near Deomali in Tirap, officials said.

A massive search operation was launched to trace the missing chopper.