Mumbai: The Thane Rural police, who were among the first responders at the site of a helicopter crash in Naneghat hills on Sunday, have potentially compromised the probe into the incident by moving the wreckage in absence of aviation experts. Global aviation guidelines say that nothing, not even bodies, should be moved at a site until air crash investigators conduct an inspection and collect evidence. But officers from the Thane Rural police, along with firefighters, removed the bodies from the wreckage and also took the flight data recorders before a team from the aviation regulator DGCA arrived at the spot.
The blunder has made DGCA investigators' job difficult, and they now fear that crucial evidence may have been lost. Five people, including the two pilots, were killed when the twin-engine Bell 212 helicopter crashed in dense fog in the 2,000-feet-high Naneghat hills, in Thane district, around 8.15 am on Sunday.
The chopper, which belonged to private charter firm United Helicharters, had taken off from Juhu aerodrome at 7.47 am and was supposed to fly to Nagpur via Aurangabad. It was reportedly hired to pick up a cash consignment from the RBI.
01/10/13 Aditya Anand & Divyesh Singh/Mumbai Mirror
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The blunder has made DGCA investigators' job difficult, and they now fear that crucial evidence may have been lost. Five people, including the two pilots, were killed when the twin-engine Bell 212 helicopter crashed in dense fog in the 2,000-feet-high Naneghat hills, in Thane district, around 8.15 am on Sunday.
The chopper, which belonged to private charter firm United Helicharters, had taken off from Juhu aerodrome at 7.47 am and was supposed to fly to Nagpur via Aurangabad. It was reportedly hired to pick up a cash consignment from the RBI.
01/10/13 Aditya Anand & Divyesh Singh/Mumbai Mirror
