Army helicopter pilot’s body found 75 days after crash

Captain Joshi along with Lt Colonel A S Baath drowned after their helicopter crashed into the lake waters on August 3. Lt Colonel Baath’s body was recovered on August 15.

“Persistent efforts by Indian Army and Navy for 75 days, which were going on day and night to recover the body of Capt Jayant Joshi, the second pilot of the helicopter, … have finally succeeded and the body has been recovered from the lake bed using hi-tech equipment,” said Army PRO Lt Col Devender Anand in Jammu.

Speaking to The Indian Express over phone, Harish Joshi, father of Capt Jayant, said the remains were found around 1.30 pm on Sunday.

“I am on my away to Military Hospital Pathankot. The remains were found close to the crash site. Visibility was not very good under the water, which is why it took so long,” he said. “All credit goes to the Navy and Army teams who have been trying to locate the remains for past two and a half months.”

Capt Jayant’s mother is a serving officer in the Military Nursing Service and the family was camping at Mamun Military Station near Pathankot for the last two and a half months, determined to take the remains of their son back home.

Capt Jayant had done his schooling from Army Public School Dhaula Kuan and his Bachelor’s degree in electronics engineering before joining the Army. He was commissioned in June 2017. He joined the Army Aviation Corps after a two-year stint in the Sikh Light Infantry.

The equipment deployed by the Navy for locating the remains and wreckage of the helicopter included Remotely Operated Underwater Vehicles, hand-held navigation system with sonar, side scanner sonar with echo sensor and portable transducer, divers propulsion vehicle, multi-beam sonar and submarine rescue unit of the Navy.

The Army had created a large floating platform from where all diving operations along with the launch of specialist equipment were being executed. —Inputs from ENS, Jammu