Co-pilot of an Indian Coast Guard helicopter, Penny Chaudhary, who was on ventilator for the past 17 days breathed her last on Tuesday, 27 March, at the INHS Asvini Hospital in Mumbai.
Chaudhary suffered head injuries coupled with internal bleeding after a Coast Guard helicopter (Chetak CG 803), that she was flying, crashed near Murud in Raigad in Maharashtra, on 10 March.
Hailing from Haryana, Assistant Commandant, Capt. Penny Chaudhary, was on life support system after she sustained severe trauma injuries, and breathed her last on Tuesday evening at the INHS Asvini naval hospital.Commandant Avinandan Mitra, Indian Coast Guard spokesperson to IANS
Chaudhary was accompanied by pilot Deputy Commandant Balwinder Singh and two other crew members Sandeep and Baljeet, reported The Times of India.
The helicopter was on a routine sortie before it developed a technical snag. But using sheer presence of mind and professionalism, Chaudhary manoeuvred the chopper away from a populated area of Murud town, to make a safe landing in a rocky portion of the beach.
Not only did she save the lives of the other crew members on board, but also averted what could have been potential disaster if the chopper had crashed in the populated regions of Murud, famed for its beaches, seafood, forts and resorts.
Though she managed to escape from the crashed chopper, she was hit on her helmet by the slow-moving rotor blade soon after the landing on the rocky Nadagram beach.
A native of Karnal in Haryana, Chaudhary had joined the ICG in December 2013 and recorded 555 hours of flying to her credit.
"She was a brilliant, soft-spoken officer, who was popular among her colleagues for her professionalism and social conduct. The young officer will be deeply remembered for by the ICG fraternity for her commendable devotion to duty and selfless service towards the nation," said Mitra in a tribute.
(With inputs from IANS and The Times of India.)
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