Two Indian Air Force helicopters collided midair during a training exercise in western Gujarat on Thursday, killing all nine people on board.
The MI-17 helicopters, which had taken off from Jamnagar Air Base, crashed at 12:05 p.m. in Sarmat, Gerard Galway, an air force spokesman, said by phone. The nine passengers included five officers.
The air force has formed “a court of inquiry†to determine the cause of accident, said Mr. Galway.
TV news footage showed rescuers among the wreckage of the two helicopters, one of which had broken into pieces.
India has used the MI-17, a Russian-built helicopter that was introduced in 1970s, for both military and civilian purposes. The medium twin-turbine helicopter can be used for transport and as a gunship.
In 2010, a MI-17 helicopter crashed in Tawang, in Arunachal Pradesh, killing 12 air force personnel, and in 2011, another MI-17 c rashed, again in Tawang, killing 17 people on a civilian flight.
