GUWAHATI – At least 18 people died and five others were badly burnt on Tuesday when a helicopter crashed and exploded as it came into land in a mountainous region of northeast India, police told AFP. “The number of those killed are 18 and five people badly burnt have been taken to hospital in Tawang,” said S.B. Singh, police inspector general of Arunachal Pradesh state, lowering the earlier death toll of 20. “There were 23 people including five crew members on board the helicopter,” he added.
“Sixteen bodies have already been taken out (from the wreckage), two more bodies are being taken out and five are in hospital and they are very seriously burnt,” he said.
A. Toko, assistant director in Arunachal Pradesh’s civil aviation department, put the death toll from the crash near the border with China at 17. “We can confirm that 17 people have died in the crash and there are six survivors, including both the pilots, and they have been shifted to hospital with serious injuries,” Toko told AFP.
