Chandigarh, Aug 10 (UNI) The Military authorities are leaving no stone unturned to search for the helicopter which crashed and sank into the Ranjit Sagar Dam (RSD) on August 3rd along with two pilots, officials said here on Tuesday.
The dam is 25kms long, 8kms wide and more than 500 feet deep.


Indian Army is coordinating the efforts of the Indian Navy and Indian Army Special Forces divers, Multi Beam Sonars, Side Scanners, Remotely Operated Vehicles and Underwater Manipulators which have been flown in from Chandigarh, Delhi, Mumbai and Kochi and pressed into action.

Search operations continue unabated in spite of bad weather and rain. Expertise and equipment of Army, Navy, IAF, NDRF, SDRF, NGOs, State police, Dam Authority and Private firms from all over the country have also been pressed into action. This deep underwater operation is especially challenging due to the near zero visibility below 50 meters owing to the colloidal nature of water in this season which adversely impacts accuracy of sonars and other sensors. Experts, specialised equipment and divers are being continuously flown in and international assistance is also being sought. No efforts are being spared to find the two missing pilots.


A small area of 60m by 60m has been localized and special sonar equipment flown in from Kochi is being employed to enable the search operations to enter its final phase.
UNI GS ACL1955