Low flying IAF chopper creates panic

Jodhpur, Feb 5: An Indian Air Force helicopter, said to be on a routine training schedule, on Thursday created panic when it came unusually low and remained stationary barely a few feet above a building in the city for few minutes.

The incident happened around 11.45 AM, when people in the vicinity of Air Force station saw a chopper flying unusually low and remained stationary for about 3-4 minutes barely a few feet above the two-storied commercial building of the National Handloom.

Indian Air Force termed it as a "routine training of pilots" but it created fear among people who thought the helicopter was going to crash.

"It was a routine training schedule of the air force pilots. They had been practising in the cantonment area for some days and today, they headed to the civilian area as a part of their training," defence spokesperson Col Manish Ojha said.

The incident of chopper remaining static for about 3-4 minutes in the air triggered panic among the civilians, who rushed away from the spot.

"We thought that the chopper was going to crash and everybody tried to run as far away as possible," said a shop owner Jitendra Panwar.

Eyewitnesses claimed that one person sustained minor injuries when a hoarding fell due to the wind generated by the rotor blades of the chopper.

Ojha said that the air force will take care of the damage caused and "it was between air force and the civilians."

Though, he termed it to be a routine, civilians claimed that they had experienced this for the first time. Police also said that they had received information about an helicopter flying low in the civilian area but it was a routine.

When asked about one person being injured, SHO of the local police station Pradeep Singh said that no complaint has been received in this regard.

PTI