NEW DELHI: An Indian army helicopter that strayed into Pakistan in bad weather Sunday and was told to land there has returned to India after Pakistani authorities let it go, an Indian official said.
The Cheetah helicopter with four officers on board returned to Kargil in Jammu and Kashmir around 6 p.m., ending an inadvertent intrusion that immediately triggered urgent talks between the two foreign and military establishments.
The chopper landed safety in India, Virendra Singh, the army’s assistant public relations officer, told IANS.
Indian military officials earlier said that pilot error forced the chopper to stray across the Line of Control (LoC).The helicopter carried two pilots, a junior commissioned officer and an engineer officer.
It had taken off from Leh in Jammu and Kashmir’s Ladakh region and was bound for Bhimbhat in Drass sector near Kargil, on the LoC, to bail out an Indian Army helicopter that got grounded there after a snag.An earlier account had mistakenly described the helicopter as a Chetak.
Pakistani officials said the helicopter, which had taken off at around 1 p.m., was forced to land in Skardu sector in Pakistani administered Kashmir for violating the country’s airspace.(IANS)