Arunachal Pradesh: In a tragic incident, Cheetah helicopter crashed in Arunachal Pradesh, killing two army pilots, according to the Eastern Command based in Kolkata. The accident has raised concerns about the safety of the ageing helicopters, which have a troubling safety record. The Army Aviation helicopter lost contact with air traffic controllers at 9:15 am and crashed in a mountainous area near Mandala, north-west of the 8,000-foot pass Bomdila. The helicopter had departed from the army's Missamari base in Assam for an operational sortie a few hours earlier. According to the sources, the Indian Army, the Sashastra Seema Bal, and the Indo-Tibetan Border Police launched five search parties immediately after the crash, and the wreckage was found near Banglajaap village, east of Mandala. The army identified the two pilots killed in the crash as Lieutenant Colonel Vinay Bhanu Reddy and Maj Jayanth A. The former was a resident of Bommalaramaram, 37 years old, and survived by his wife, an army
