Press Trust of India
Mumbai, August 12
The helicopter, which crashed into the Arabian Sea while ferrying 25 ONGC employees, has been located 180 miles off Sagar Kiran lying upside down, even as the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) announced an inquiry into the cause of the crash.
The night-long search operations by the vessels of ONGC, Navy and Coast Guard led to the location of Mi-72 helicopter lying upside down in the water, an ONGC spokesperson said in Mumbai on Tuesday.
Efforts are on to bring up the chopper which crashed on Monday three minutes after take-off with 29 persons aboard, including four crew members of Mesco aviation.
The spokesperson said only three bodies have so far been recovered, while 24 others are fear trapped in the chopper. Two survived the crash.
About the strike threat by the Association of technicians and officers (ASTO) of ONGC, the spokesperson said a committee of directors would be meeting them on Tuesday to discuss the demands, including higher compensation of Rs 25 lakh to those who perished in the incident.
Meanwhile, the DGCA has announced an inquiry into the cause of the crash and appointed Deputy Director V K Chandana as inspector of accident.
Efforts are on to recover the cockpit, voice recorder and the flight data recorder which could provide vital clues about the crash, top DGCA officials said.
The Russian-made helicopter had logged about 3,000 flying hours since it was acquired by Mesco in 1995.
ONGC director offshore V K Sharma said that operations were normal at the Bombay High offshore field.
"We would be producing our normal output of 3,40,000 barrels per day of crude oil today," he said, while acknowledging that the employees had threatened to go on strike.
Sharma said Tuesday being a holiday for Raksdha Bandhan, the onshore offices of ONGC were anyway closed but the operations have not yet been affected.