Uttarakhand: Our rotors will not stop turning, vows IAF chief after crash

A day after the tragic incident where 20 rescue personnel were killed, Indian Air Force chief NAK Browne said that morale was still high among the air force personnel engaged in rescue work and they were still attempting to ascertain the cause of the incident.

“Our hearts go out to families of the people who have lost their lives,” Browne told reporters in Dehradun while en route to the site of the MI17 crash site.

However, the air force chief said they would not let the crash deter them from rescue operations.

“Morale is still very high…Our rotors will not stop churning,” he said.

Browne said it was too early to know the cause of the crash and they were still in the process of investigating it.

The Indian Air Force had sent commandos to the site of the crash and all the bodies had been recovered. The cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder have also been recovered and are set to be analysed, Browne said.

“We have recovered the recording devices and only analysis will reveal cause of the crash,” he said.

The air force chief said that most of the evacuation process where still on and villagers from higher reaches of the hills are still being evacuated from flood affected regions.

Rescue operations have been hit by bad weather since yesterday and with rains continuing in the flood affected areas, helicopter operations have been hit. However, Browne said that they wouldn’t let bad weather affect operations.

“When we get a window of opportunity we will continue with rescue operations,” he said.

The air force chief said they were hoping the weather would improve over the next three to four days allowing them to complete the rescue mission.