With three days of intensified search yielding nothing, chances of survival of the two missing pilots of Pawan Hans helicopter look quite bleak. The directorate general of civil aviation (DGCA) is probing the case and no conclusion has been arrived at, yet.
DGCA officials are hoping to find the black box so that the reason behind the mishap can be ascertained after listening to voice recordings of the helicopter. Meanwhile, search operations of the Indian Coast Guard and Navy continued on Saturday even as DGCA conducted an inquiry and sent a team of officers to the Pawan Hans office and oil rig to check status of the search operation.
A source from the Defence department said, “After any mishap, Naval ships conduct a search operation for 72 hours which are already over. However, as the black box has not yet been recovered, we continue with our search operation and looking for the pilots too.”
An officer corroborated this and said, “We have intercepted a few signals so our search is on.”
An official from Pawan Hans said, “As the Eco Eco platform near which the accident occurred was unmanned, we could not find anyone who can
tell us how the crash happened.” GM West Region of Pawan Hans confirmed the same and said, “Nothing which belongs to our aircraft has been recovered yet.”
Director of the Juhu Air traffic control centre from where helicopters take off for oil rigs said, “On Wednesday, the tower closes at 6 pm, so there is no record with us about this aircraft. Juhu Airport does not have any runway lights which is why we don’t operate after sunset.”
Meanwhile, a Pawan Hans pilot said, “There were life jackets on board the aircraft but we fear that out pilots were not even able to open the seat belt and come out.”
