Uttarakhand pilot who saved 500 lives grounded as probe on damaged chopper yet to start

MUMBAI: Chopper pilot Captain Andrew Manchanda from Mumbai saved about 500 lives in Uttarkhand in less than a week till rough weather on June 28 forced him into a hard landing in Harsil valley. Though no one was injured, the French-made Pawan Hans Dauphin N3 cracked at its rear following a 20-feet free fall and its rotor tail section had to be chopped off. According to the protocol, Captain Manchanda was grounded pending a probe, but the investigation has not yet started even though three months have already passed.

4,120 missing post-Uttarakhand floods

DEHRADUN: Uttarakhand has released a final update on the number of people who went missing from Rudrapryag, Chamoli and Uttarkashi districts in the aftermath of the mid-June flashfloods and landslides. On Monday chief secretary Subhash Kumar gave a figure of 4,120 missing people on the basis of FIRs lodged at various police stations in the state's 13 districts and at the Dehradun-based Uttarakhand Missing Persons Cell.