IAF's Mi-17 chopper force-lands in Arunachal, all 16 people onboard safe

The Mi-17 helicopter was on a routine mission from Tuting.

Pic for representational purpose only

NEW DELHI: An Indian Air Force chopper, which was on a routine mission, had to force-land in the west of Tuting in Arunachal Pradesh on Thursday afternoon.

According to ANI, the Mi-17 helicopter force-landed west of Tuting in Arunachal Pradesh this afternoon.

Today afternoon one Mi-17 helicopter on a routine mission from Tuting, Arunachal Pradesh force-landed West of Tuting. All 16 on-board are safe: Indian Air Force

— ANI (@ANI) October 11, 2018

There were 16 people onboard the chopper, who are completely safe, the IAF said.

The helicopter was on a routine mission from  Jorhat, Assam to Tuting in Arunachal Pradesh when it force-landed this afternoon, the IAF said.

The chopper has to force-land after it lost total communication from its base, the IAF said.

 The IAF also said that the landing was made due to the bad weather. 

The chopper was flying from Jorhat, Assam to Tuting in Arunachal Pradesh.

In April, one Mi-17 helicopter crashed during landing near Kedarnath temple in Uttarakhand. 

The Mi-17 helicopter, which was flying to Kedarnath carrying some stuff for the Army, caught fire following a collision with an iron girder while landing at a helipad. 

There were eight people - six passengers, pilot and co-pilot – onboard, but they escaped unhurt.

In October last year, a Mi-17 helicopter had crashed near Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh killing seven military personnel. Five IAF personnel, including two pilots, and two army men were killed in the crash near the remote town of Tawang, close to the China border.

The Mi-17 V5 (domestic designation Mi-8 MTV5) is a military transport variant in the Mi-8/17 family of helicopters. It is produced by Kazan Helicopters, a subsidiary of Russian Helicopters. The aircraft has a maximum takeoff weight of 13,000 kg. It can transport either 36 armed soldiers internally or 4,500 kg of load on a sling.