Ranjit Sagar Dam crash: Pilot drowned due to injury, says report

New Delhi, March 22

A report into the cause of death of Capt Jayant Joshi, the Army aviation pilot who was killed in an air crash, says he died by drowning and has gone on to say the pilot could have survived had he not been injured which prevented him from swimming to safety or staying afloat.

Capt Joshi and his senior pilot Lt Col AS Batth were killed in a crash on August 3 last year when the ALH Rudra copter crashed into the Ranjit Sagar Dam lake near Pathankot. Capt Joshi’s body was retrieved from the lake after 76 days.

A report by the Institute of Aviation Medicine says “multiple injuries were sustained by the deceased, even though grievous, (he) could have been survived. However, these injuries could have adversely affected survivability in water for a self-rescue”.

Harish Joshi, father of Capt Joshi, said, “My son was alive, but deprived of a life jacket, he could not float as his femur or thigh had broken.”