Coast Guard pilot, who suffered injuries in chopper crash, dies

Coast Guard Assistant Commandant Captain Penny Chaudhary, who had suffered a head injury during the crash landing of a helicopter, died on Tuesday evening. She was admitted to INHS Asvini hospital after suffering the injury during the landing of a coast guard chopper. She battled for 17 days before succumbing to her injuries.

The chopper had crashed near Murud in Raigad on March 10, and Captain Chaudhary was on life support following surgery for head injury. "She died last night," Coast Guard PRO (west) Commandant Avinandan Mitra said.

Captain Chaudhary had suffered internal bleeding after the rotor of the helicopter struck her head.

The helicopter was on a routine sortie with four passengers -- Deputy Commandant Balwinder Singh, Assistant Commandant Chaudhary, and two divers Sandeep and Baljeet -- when it crash landed. Capt Chaudhary was the first to disembark from the crashed helicopter, but was hit on her helmet by the rotor blade, which was moving slowly.

When the helicopter engine shut mid-air, the pilot and the co-pilot used the rotor's movement to glide the chopper towards the shore to prevent it from falling in the sea. They tried to land the helicopter on a sandy part of the beach, but could not, and it landed on a rocky patch on Nadagram beach.