Two pilots on board a Cheetah helicopter of the Army were killed when it crashed near Mandala in West Kameng district of Arunachal Pradesh on Thursday morning, a defence spokesperson said. The deceased officers have been identified as Lt Colonel VVB Reddy and his co-pilot Major Jayanth A, he said.

Defence spokesperson Lt Colonel Mahendra Rawat said the helicopter was on an operational sortie from Missamari in Assam’s Sonitpur district to Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh. The flight encountered “inconducive weather” and was returning to Missamari when it crashed, he said. “A Court of Inquiry is ordered to ascertain the cause of the accident,” he added.