Pune, 2 Oct

Two ex-IAF pilots and an engineer were killed after a helicopter belonging to a private aviation company crashed and caught fire near Pune city on Wednesday morning, police said.

The chopper, belonging to Delhi-based Heritage Aviation, had been hired by the Nationalist Congress Party, said its Maharashtra unit chief and MP Sunil Tatkare.

The deceased were identified as pilot Paramjeet Singh, 62, co-pilot GK Pillai, 57, both retired from the Indian Air Force; and aircraft maintenance engineer Pritam Kumar Bhardwaj, 53, police said. After the crash, the chopper caught fire, police said, adding that fire tenders and water tankers were rushed to the spot.

Primary information suggested fog led to the accident but a detailed investigation will ascertain the exact cause, he added. On 24 August, a private helicopter flying from Mumbai to Hyderabad had crashed in Paud area near Pune, but its occupants survived. -PTI