The body of Captain Jayant Joshi, whose helicopter crashed into the Ranjit Sagar Dam in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kathua district on August 3, was on Sunday found by the Indian Army, ANI reported.
The body has been identified and will be taken to Joshi’s home on Monday, according to The Indian Express. The final rites will be performed on Tuesday by his family.
The chopper belonged to the 254 Army Aviation Squadron that was being piloted by Joshi and Lieutenant Colonel AS Baath. On August 3, it developed a technical snag 10 minutes after it had taken off from the Mamun cantonment.
The helicopter crashed into the lake in Kathua, following which, both pilots drowned. Baath’s body was recovered on August 15.
“Persistent efforts by the Indian Army and Navy for 75 days, which were going on day and night to recover the body of Capt Jayant Joshi, the second pilot of the helicopter have finally succeeded,” said Army Public Relations Officer Lieutenant Colonel Devender Anand. “The body has been recovered from the lake bed using hi-tech equipment.”
Apart from the divers, the rescue team used a multi-beam sonar system – generally used to map seabeds – to search the lake for Joshi’s body, NDTV reported. The Army had also deployed remote-operated vehicles with robotic arms to search the surface of the lake.
During the search, Joshi’s body was located at a depth of 65 metres-70 metres. It was sent to the Military Hospital Pathankot for examination.
To locate the wreckage of the helicopter, the Army had deployed the submarine rescue unit of the navy, The Indian Express reported.
Joshi had joined the Army in June 2017. His first stint was in the Sikh Light Infantry, following which he joined Army Aviation Corps.
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