Captain Gopal Krishna Panda and Captain AP Shrivastava were killed in the accident, the police said. Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel took to Twitter to express his grief.
Raipur: Two pilots of a state helicopter died after a chopper crashed at an airport in Chhattisgarh’s Swami Vivekanand Airport in Raipur around 9 pm on Thursday evening, the police said. The helicopter caught fire when the pilots were trying to land it. Both the pilots on board died in the accident.
Captain Gopal Krishna Panda and Captain AP Shrivastava were killed in the accident, the police said.
Meanwhile, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel took to Twitter and wrote, “Just got a sad news about the state helicopter crashing at the airport in Raipur. In this tragic accident, both our pilots Captain Panda and Captain Srivastava have sadly passed away. May God give strength to his family members and peace to the departed soul in this time of grief.”
According to sources, it was on a routine training sortie and the initial indications suggest technical malfunction as the cause of the crash.